Young Hearts and Minds
by strangersworld
Summary: This starts off right before Final Jam. Everything has gone wrong for Mitchie, and nothing is going to get better any time soon. First chapters are short, later chapters are a lot longer, so don't be discouraged. *Smitchie*
1. Chapter 1

**Basically this story is continued on from the scene right before Final Jam. In case you don't remember, that was when Mitchie and Caitlyn were at the dock on the lake, and then they run off after realizing why Brown kept telling them that they were banned until the "end" of final jam. And now we enter… dum dum dum**

**Oh yeah, disclaimer: Wait, is it called a disclaimer? Isn't that like the "no elephants were harmed in the writing of this story" sort of thing? Does the "I do not own these characters" also fall under this category? Why I am talking to myself, and asking myself all these questions? Why aren't you reading the actual story, instead of this dumb disclaimer wannabe? Stop reading this! Finally, sheesh.**

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Mitchie and Caitlyn ran up the dirt path, hoping to still be able to catch some of final jam. Once Mitchie had realized they could still perform after it was all over, the two girls scurried to the theater. Finally, the two girls reached the hall. Mitchie and Caitlyn opened the door and snuck in during the song "Hasta La Vista". They sat in two of the seats near the back corner. Mitchie looked around and spotted Shane with the other two members of his band. More than anything, she wanted to talk to him, touch him, or even smell him. But she knew she had to sit in the corner and pretend to be invisible, just like what she had been doing for her entire life.

Meanwhile, Tess was pacing the floor in the dressing room. Peggy and Ella had just left her alone to sing by herself after getting into a huge argument. Tess could either perform "2 Stars" without her back-up singers or she could simply go into her bag where she was keeping Mitchie's song book. Originally, Tess had decided to take Mitchie's song and sing it at Final Jam. Then she would make sure Mitchie could not come to Final Jam and claim the song as hers. Everything had been planned out perfectly. But Tess had decided only three days before that she could not do it. She was surprised by the feeling of guilt, as it did not rear its ugly head often, but nevertheless, Tess decided not to be that cruel. However, at this moment, Tess' previous feeling of guilt was replaced with another emotion—hate. She desperately wanted to get back at Peggy and Ella, and win Final Jam. But she knew she could not accomplish this with "2 Stars". The anger in Tess started to rise until she finally ran over to her bag, and ripped it open. Inside was Mitchie's yellow song book. She flipped through the words again to refresh her memory. "Hasta La Vista" ended, and Tess knew it was her turn. She poked her head out of the curtain to quickly check the audience. Her mom was no where in sight. The anger built up even further until she was ready to explode.

"So let's hear it for Tess Tyler!" The audience roared with applause. Tess walked out confidently and took the microphone. She put on the sweetest—and fakest—smile possible and said, "Hi everyone. Well, I have a little something I wrote, so I hope you like it…" With that she began the song… "Do you know what it's like to feel so in the dark?..."

From the audience, Mitchie started shaking furiously. She turned to Caitlyn and whispered angrily, "She… that's… she… my song!!"

"Calm down, Mitchie. We can take care of this. Don't worry. We'll just show them your book… and…" Caitlyn said, attempting to calm Mitchie down. Her attempts were drowned out by a louder voice. A few heads turned to hear Shane excitedly talking to Brown. Finally, Tess finished her song. Shane jumped up on stage and took Tess' hands.

He looked into her eyes and said, "You're the one. You are the voice in my head. And you are also the winner of Final Jam!"

Tess clapped and gave Shane a hug. He then said, "Now we have an end of camp campfire outside, so let's all make out way to the outdoor stage." He put his arm around Tess and the two walked off the stage as everyone exited the theater.

Mitchie started shaking. She quickly jumped up from her seat. "Don't do anything stupid," Caitlyn cautioned.

Mitchie saw Brown and ran up to him, yelling, "Tess is a liar! She stole my song! She took it! She didn't write that, I did! I didn't steal her bracelet. I didn't do anything! It's all her!"

"Calm down, calm down. If she stole your song as you claim, how did she know it by heart?" Brown asked.

Mitchie paused. "My book. My book, that's it. She must have stolen it! She must have it. It's in her cabin somewhere."

Brown sighed. "Ok, we will check this out. Go to the campfire for now, and we will take Miss Tyler up to her cabin and we will all see if she has your book or not, alright?"

"Thank you. Thank you! I just know you will find it. It's yellow and it has my name on the front."

Brown walked away, as Caitlyn walked up and asked, "Are you sure you know what you're doing? I don't think Tess will give up this easily."

"As soon as they find out she stole my book," Mitchie said. "Tess is done for. God, I hate her!"

Mitchie walked out of the auditorium when she heard someone calling her name. She turned around to see her mother. "Mitchie! Mitchie, I need some help in the kitchen."

"Not now, mom."

"Mitchie Torres, do not take that tone with me," Connie yelled, stomping over to her daughter. "You promised to help me."

"Mom, Tess stole my song for Final Jam. It's not a good time."

"No," Connie said, shaking her head. "She couldn't have."

"She did!"

"How could she possibly have stolen it? There's no way."

"MOM!" Mitchie screamed desperately. "You HAVE to believe me."

"Well, I don't know who to believe anymore. You keep blaming Tess for everything, and it can't always be her fault. Sometimes, you just have to take responsibility. And because you have the need to yell at me today, as soon as you get home you are grounded for three weeks."

Tears started to come to Mitchie's eyes. She ran off from her mother to the campfire, where she saw Brown and Tess waiting next to the fire.

"So, did you find it?" Mitchie asked, calming down a little.

"I'm sorry, there's just nothing to go on. We tore apart her room, and there was nothing. Tess did not steal your song," Brown said and walked away, leaving Tess and Mitchie alone. He joined the large group of people singing and having a great time by the stage.

"Poor little Mitchie," Tess teased. "No one believes you. Thanks for the help, though. I could not have won without you. And thanks for the book." With that, Tess pulled the yellow book out of her jacket.

Mitchie screamed, "Brown, come here. Come quick!" Brown and several others including Shane made their way over to the other side of the fire where Mitchie and Tess were. At that moment, Tess threw Mitchie's book deep into the large fire. Mitchie tried to go in after it, but suddenly felt a pair of arms holding her back from the fire. Mitchie attempted to escape and stick her arm in the fire before it was too late. All her songs, her work, everything was burning to pieces before her eyes.

"Nooo!" Mitchie screamed, tears streaming down her face. The strong pair of arms withstood her attempts for freedom. Mitchie turned to see Shane holding her back. Mitchie turned back to the fire. Her beloved book was gone. Burned into pieces. She lifted her knee into Shane's crotch. He quickly let go of her and bent over on the floor in pain.

Mitchie quickly ran down the path to the lake. _I can't do this anymore_, Mitchie though. _My mom hates me, Shane hates me, my work is gone forever... everyone hates me. I have to get out. I have to get away from here._ Mitchie's face was soaked with tears as she realized she had nothing left. This caused her to make the hasty decision abruptly: she had to end her life.

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**Ok, I know that was that was freakishly depressing. And I know some of you are like "Mitchie wouldn't commit suicide. That's too dramatic!" Well, I've seen people commit suicide for less, so there.**

**Oh, yes, and please please please review. Reviews help me better my writing (is that even correct English? See how much help I need?). Constructive criticism, ideas, etc. are all great. Thanks so much!**


	2. Chapter 2

**Ok, so I didn't really no what a disclaimer was. Whatever. :P From now on, I am going to mention an elephant in my disclaimer somewhere. Because elephants are just cool like that.**

**Disclaimer: Neither the elephants, nor I own any of these characters.**

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Mitchie was desperate. She saw no reason to live, although she wasn't one hundred percent sure she wanted to commit suicide. She just didn't want to be alive anymore. There was no one around who could murder her, so she decided to do it herself. She quickly went through possible methods. Gun? No, there weren't guns around here. Knife? No, the kitchen staff might get a bit suspicious if she asked for a knife. What did that leave? The lake. Part of Mitchie wanted to go back to her mom and her close friend, but the other part wanted to leave everything behind forever. Unfortunately, the second part won the battle. The lake called Mitchie in; it was hypnotizing. The moon shone on it causing the lake to glitter. Mitchie took off her boots, pants, and finally her shirt. She was down to her underwear and bra now. Mitchie walked solemnly over to the lake's edge. She wondered if anyone would miss her. She knew in her heart they would, but her irrational head convinced her otherwise.

Mitchie finally took a deep breath and started walking further and further into the water. The cool water was now up to her waist. She took a deep breath and went under. She swam further until she was in the middle of the lake. Mitchie resurfaced. She then took one last breath and swam slowly to the bottom of the lake. Everything was quiet, almost dead. She swam until she found a rock sitting at the bottom. It was dark, so she wasn't completely sure it was a rock, but it felt large and rough. She held on to the rock and wrapped her legs around it. At first, everything was peaceful and calm. However, after a few minutes the small pain in her chest turned into a large pain.

_What am I doing? _Mitchie asked herself. _I don't want to die. I am young, and there are still people who love me. What am I doing? I have to get up for air, now!_

Mitchie tried to push off the rock to the surface but her foot was stuck. She pushed and pushed, but her foot would not let free. She was not sure which pain was worse—the pain in her chest or the pain coming from her smashed foot. Mitchie bent her body back down to her foot. It was almost completely black so she couldn't see or move what was holding her. All she could do was try to wiggle her foot free. Mitchie kept trying to swim for the surface. She had no breath or energy left in her. Soon, she had no life left in her either. Mitchie gave one final attempt to reach the surface, and then everything went black.

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**Ok, I know that was freakishly short, but I will make up for it in the next chapter, I promise. It was just because I have a longer idea and this was sort of separate from it. If that makes sense. Thanks so much for the reviews/reads, etc. That was freakishly quick! I really appreciate it. The elephants do, too.**


	3. Chapter 3

**Have I mentioned that you guys rock? Ten friggin comments? Are you kidding me? It made me such a happy little lady! Since the last chapter was super short, I made this was freakishly long.**

**The elephants and I don't feel like doing a disclaimer today. Sorry. Feel free to throw coconuts. **

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Mitchie awoke while coughing water out of her mouth. She was exhausted, and she turned around and lay down on her stomach, not aware of her surroundings, or aware that she just coughed out two lungs full of water. It was all a dream, thank god, Mitchie thought. However, her sleepy thoughts were interrupted by a pair of hands shaking her awake.

"Five more minutes," Mitchie groaned. She opened an eye and saw that she was by the lake still. The sky was very dark, but the moon still shone through some foggy clouds. Mitchie shot up a little too quickly, and became very dizzy.

"Careful!" Mitchie heard a voice say.

Mitchie's vision stopped blurring and she was able to make out Shane's figure.

"Great," Mitchie mumbled, burying her head in her knees. As she did this, she realized she was still wearing only a bra and underwear. She looked down at her exposed body, then turned to Shane and slapped him across the face.

"Where are my clothes?" She demanded, trying to cover herself with her hands.

"Why, yes, I did save your life. You're welcome. Glad to help," Shane snapped.

"You…" Mitchie was speechless, and forgot for a second that she currently lacked clothing. "You… s-saved… me? H-how?"

"We'll talk about that later," Shane offered. "But for now, you need to take it easy. And you need clothes because I do not care to be slapped across the face again."

"Sorry, it's just…" Mitchie's face turned tomato red. "I've never been this uncovered around a guy before. I feel stupid. And embarrassed. I swear I put my clothes on the shore. I don't know where the heck they are."

Shane had an extremely difficult time avoiding looking at the beautiful, half-naked girl next to him. He quickly pulled his red shirt over his head and gave it to her.

"You can wear that until we go back up and get you some new clothes."

Mitchie pulled it over her head. God, Shane smelled good. And now she had the smell on her.

"But now you don't have a shirt," Mitchie said, trying to hide her smile.

"That's okay. I'll survive. Can you walk straight?" He asked.

"Yeah," Mitchie said slowly. She attempted to stand but wobbled a bit and fell down. "I guess I feel a little lightheaded. Can you just stay here for a little while? With me? Unless you have to go back to Tess."

Shane groaned. "Come on, don't be like that. We aren't even dating or anything. Brown would have a fit if we dated, anyway."

"Let's just forget about her tonight, huh?" Mitchie laid her head down on the hard ground. Shane smiled and lifted it, placing her head delicately on his lap.

"So do you want to talk about it?" Shane asked.

"Talk about what?" Mitchie asked.

"The reason you were drowning at the bottom of a lake?"

Mitchie bit her lip. "Goodnight." She shut her eyes tight.

"Mitch, come on. You seriously scared the shit out of me. The least you can do is explain yourself."

Mitchie opened one eye. "I just—I don't know. It's too embarrassing. You'll hate me."

"Impossible," Shane said, giving her a comforting smile.

"I don't know…" Mitchie's voice trailed off. She wondered if she could go hide in the lake again instead of explaining everything to Shane.

"Well, I can tell you were trying to… you know end your life. But why?"

Mitchie didn't want to tell him anything. But with only one look into his eyes, Mitchie immediately felt comfortable with telling him anything. "I wasn't exactly trying to. I just… you know. I wanted to get away from everything. Maybe I was at first. But I wasn't thinking. I tried to come back up, but I got stuck. My foot." Mitchie sat up and showed him.

Shane examined it. "Wow, Mitchie this is bad. It's all swollen. There are a few cuts. At least the blood dried. But we have to clean the scrapes before they get infected."

"No, please. Not now anyway. I don't want to go back now," Mitchie pleaded.

Shane nodded. "Okay, we will stay for a little longer." Mitchie then put her head back in Shane's lap.

"Hey, how did you find me, anyway? I mean, I was at the bottom of the lake. How did you know where to save me?" Mitchie asked.

"Well," Shane breathed. "It's strange. I don't know."

"Yes you do," Mitchie pushed. "Come on, you can tell me."

"It's just weird. I went to look for you since you were so upset when you ran off. I couldn't find you, but it was bizarre. The lake like called me in or something. I don't know. I just somehow knew you were there and needed my help. It sounds crazy, I know," Shane said.

"Not so crazy. Thanks, by the way. I dunno if I said it. But I can't say it enough, anyway. I owe you my…" Mitchie's voice trailed off into silence.

"You owe me your life?" Shane finished for her. "Well, you never know. I may need a kidney some day."

Mitchie smiled. "I wish we could just stay here. And leave _everything_ behind. Just stay here talking here forever. Together."

Shane nodded. He wished that exact same thing, too. He wished there weren't so many complications to everything. Most of all, Shane wished he could work through his confusing emotions. He then inquired: "So what are we going to do about everything?"

"Can we just forget about this all? Please?" Mitchie begged.

"Mitch, we can't just forget this. It's part of you now. I can understand not wanting to tell people, but you are going to need twenty-four hour supervision. And we are going to need to talk regularly. Like every day. Even when we aren't at camp. And we need to talk about serious stuff, not just the fun stuff."

"Oh yeah, every day. Because that's very regular and normal," Mitchie said sarcastically. "Wouldn't I have to tell someone about my problem if they were going to give me twenty-four hour supervision?"

"Well, you told me," Shane pointed out.

"You are going to watch me 24/7?"

"It won't be so bad," Shane said, with a flirtatious smile.

"Ok, we will test this out," Mitchie joked, playfully. She got up. Shane got up. Mitchie walked down to a grassy area. Shane followed. Mitchie sat down. Shane sat right next to her.

"Not bad," Mitchie said, smiling.

Shane smiled back. He suddenly thought of something and laughed.

"What?" Mitchie asked.

"Nothing…"

"Shane! Come on. What were you thinking of and laughing about?" Mitchie pressured.

"You'll think it is dumb," Shane said, avoiding eye contact.

"I won't! I promise!" Mitchie begged.

"Fine. This reminded me of a movie or something. So I was thinking about those romantic chick-flick type songs," Shane said.

"Were you thinking of one in particular?" Mitchie asked.

He shrugged. "Nah."

Mitchie could tell he was lying. "Ah, you were thinking of one! Admit it, you like those songs."

Shane looked away. Mitchie then took his face in her hands, and tried to keep a serious face while saying, "All right, out with it. Which ones do you like?"

"I want to know which you like," Shane said, skillfully trying to turn the conversation off him.

"You say a song, I will say a song. So what's your dream romantic fluff song?"

Shane raised an eyebrow. "Fine, don't laugh. The one I was thinking of was Because You Loved Me. Celine Dion. There I said it."

Mitchie started laughing.

"Hey!" Shane said. "You said you wouldn't laugh."

"Sorry, but it's _such_ a chick song. But that's okay. It is one of those songs that gets you in the 'mood'. I kinda like My Heart Will Go On by her. It's such a cliché, but you can't help it. But come on, Titanic, the whole Jack and Rose thing. It's so sad!"

"OH MY GOD! TITANIC! I LOVE THAT MOVIE!" Shane screamed in excitement.

Again, Mitchie broke out into laugher and was rolling on the floor.

"Okay. I'm officially never telling you anything again," Shane half-joked.

"No, it's okay. That's one of my all time favorite movies. But seriously, mister I'm-so-tough-so-don't-mess-with-me Shane Gray loves Titanic. I cannot picture that. Do you sit in front of it crying with ice cream and all that?"

Shane was silent for a minute and then said, "I really don't like you."

Mitchie pretended to be hurt. "But no, really, I think that's awesome. It'll be our little secret that you watch chick flicks. And that you love Titanic. And Celine Dion. And Titanic. And romance songs. And Titanic. God, that will never stop being fun to say."

"Okay, so what other romantic songs do you like?" Shane asked.

"Look how swiftly he changes the subject!" Mitchie joked. "Let's see. I love Somewhere Over the Rainbow. Oh and Ain't No Mountain High Enough. And Bubbly. And Phantom of the Opera songs."

"Crazy Little Thing Called Love!" Shane added in. "Oh, and Love Me Do. And Can't Take My Eyes Off of You. And Bless the Broken Road."

"What's that last one? I've never heard it before. How does it go?"

"You want me to sing it?" Shane asked, a bit surprised.

"What, are you afraid to sing in front of me? You can sing in front of millions of people, but not me?" Mitchie teased.

Shane glared. He lay down on the grass, and Mitchie put her head on his still bare stomach. Shane then began his song: "I set out on a narrow way, many years ago. Hoping I would find true love along the broken road…"

Mitchie started to fall asleep on him. Shane finally finished the song.

"Hey Mitchie?" He asked quietly.

A sleepy Mitchie answered, "Yeah?"

"Promise me something."

Mitchie took a deep breath. "Anything," she whispered.

"What you did tonight… don't ever do anything that stupid ever again. Don't worry me that much ever again either," Shane said, stroking her hair.

"Deal," Mitchie said, and fell asleep.

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**Thanks for reading you guys! Really, thanks. You have no idea how much it means to me.**


	4. Chapter 4

**Ahhh! 15 reviews! Okay, people are probably like pshhhh that's nothing. But I think that it's awesome. So thank you!!**

**Disclaimer: Nope, I don't own any of these Camp Rock hotties. What a shame.**

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"Mitchieeeee! Shaneeeeee!" Shane awoke to the sound of voices in the distance. He sat up, realizing that he and Mitchie had fallen asleep by the lake. The sun was already out, so he could only imagine where people thought the two of them had run off to, or what they had been doing.

"Mitchie, wake up. Oh my god, Mitchie. Everyone is looking for us," Shane said. Mitchie opened one eye, and then the other.

"What did you just say? Oh my… oh no. No, no, no," Mitchie said, frantically standing up. "What am I going to do? If they find out I… I… I tried to kill myself, my mom will send me away to one of those psycho hospitals or teen help centers or something. I'll have to leave everything—school, my friends, everything. You."

Shane's heart dropped at the last word of the sentence. "No," he said firmly. "We will just tell them that we fell asleep here. We don't have to tell them about the first part of the evening."

"Yeah, right, they will believe that. My clothes are no where in sight. Someone will see me if I try to get new clothes from my cabin. So how do we explain the no clothes thing, huh? You think Brown will really believe that we both fell asleep half naked and that nothing happened?!"

"So… we let them assume. Brown will be so focused on killing me that you won't be in trouble," Shane offered.

"Shane, for god's sake," Mitchie said, starting to pace nervously. "I am seventeen. You are eighteen. At best, you are banned from this camp. At worst, you could be charged with rape and go to jail. And the press… you'd never have the same career. No, we can't do that. We don't have to… we should just…"

More voices were heard in the distance. Shane was out of ideas as he pointed out: "We need to decide what to do quickly. If someone finds us, we are both done with. There's no way we could get away with it."

"Yeah… I—someone's coming!" Mitchie grabbed Shane's hand and the two hid in one of the turned over boats. There was little space, so Mitchie was forced to lie down on top of Shane. The two heard the footsteps come closer. The feet stopped right next to the boat, where Mitchie recognized Caitlyn's shoes.

"It's Caitlyn—she can help us," Mitchie whispered.

"No, we can't trust anyone. We can do this by ourselves," Shane said quietly.

"Shane! Caitlyn can—" Her sentence was interrupted by Caitlyn kicked the boat over.

"You two need to whisper more quietly," Caitlyn said. She suddenly realized that Mitchie was only wearing Shane's red T-shirt and Shane was only wearing pants. "Oh my god, people were talking, but I didn't think the rumors were true."

Caitlyn grabbed Mitchie's arm and pulled her aside, asking: "So how was it?"

"How was what?" Mitchie snapped. She suddenly realized. "Oh, gross. I did not have sex with him. We didn't do anything! Geez."

"Then why are you two so… lacking in clothing?" Caitlyn asking, laughing.

"It's a long story, details later," Mitchie said, officially going into problem solving mode. "But for now, you have to help us. You don't have anyone staying in your room. I can go sneak up into your cabin and someone will find me sleeping there… in my own clothes. I will just say I've been there the whole night."

"What about him?" Caitlyn asked, gesturing to Shane. "Brown already tore apart his cabin."

"Don't worry about me. Just get Mitchie to your cabin without anyone noticing it's her. I'll wing it," Shane said.

"I think the fact that Mitchie isn't wearing pants might draw some attention to her. Plus, _everyone _is looking for you two. People will first realize there's a girl without pants, and then they will realize it's her," Caitlyn said.

Shane stood for a second, trying to think. "Turn around," he commanded.

"What?" Mitchie asked.

"Both of you. Do it. Quick," Shane said, motioning with his hands.

Mitchie and Caitlyn turned the other way until they saw a pair of white pants fly over their heads. Mitchie quickly turned around and saw that Shane was gone.

"Shane?" She called out, softly.

She heard Shane's voice coming from the other side of the turned over boat. "Put them on, and wear Caitlyn's hat. And get to your cabin, now. Good luck."

Mitchie nodded and put his pants on. They were warm, and smelled of Shane's cologne, giving her a moment of butterfly stomach. Finally, she put the hat on and made her way up the path. Luckily, Caitlyn's cabin was close. On her way up, Mitchie ran into only one person calling her name. Mitchie called out: "Shane, Mitchie!" and ducked her head until the other person moved on. Finally, Mitchie reached the cabin. She ran inside, and slipped off Shane's clothes, hiding them under her pillow. She then put on Caitlyn's pajamas, and crawled into bed.

Down at the lake, Shane started to get extremely worried.

"What are you going to say for your story?" Caitlyn asked.

"Well, Brown's my uncle. Hopefully, I can talk my way out of everything," Shane said, trying to convince her.

"You're in your boxers. How are you going to pull off that one? And the fact that Mitchie was gone, too? For Mitchie, I will just say she came to my cabin last night but I forgot she was there this morning or something, but you don't have a witness. Brown thinks you've been gone all night. He thinks you've been doing some bad things, things they talk about on the news about you. He said you sometimes drank too much," Caitlyn said, trying not to offend him.

"That's just news stuff. I mean sure, I've been drunk before. But mostly I just had attitude issues. The news just wants the whole bad boy image to be complete. It was ruining my career for a while, though. Hey, wait. I just got an idea. I need you to do something for me though," Shane said.

Caitlyn was skeptical. "Okay, what is it?"

"Andy snuck some beers into camp. I need you to go into his cabin and grab a few bottles. Bring them back down," Shane said.

Caitlyn was shocked. "Are you kidding me?"

"Look, you won't be in trouble. And this is the only way Mitchie won't be in trouble either. I probably won't even need them, but just to be safe. Do it, please?" Shane asked.

Caitlyn started to feel a bit sympathetic towards Shane, even though she had no idea what he was planning. "All right, I will be back in five minutes."

Sure enough, Caitlyn was back a few minutes later with three beer cans.

"Okay, now run. You didn't help me. You were looking this whole time. Or better yet, go tell one of the camp counselors you just remembered that Mitchie came to you last night. Do something. I will wait until Brown comes down here and finds me," Shane said.

Caitlyn chuckled. "May the force be with you."

Shane raised an eyebrow and laughed. He then emptied the beer bottles into the grass and set them down. He wished Brown would come soon, because it was starting to get fairly cold.

His wish came true when he heard a British accent calling: "Shane! Shane!"

"Uncle Brown?" Shane called out. His uncle ran down the path.

"Where the hell have you been young man?" His uncle asked in a threatening tone.

"I just… you know… fell asleep down here. I was looking at the lake and fell asleep," Shane answered innocently.

"And your clothes? Care to explain what you happened do to with them?" Brown pushed further.

"I… I like to sleep in my boxers," Shane declared, trying not to show how nervous he was.

"Oh, do you?" Brown asked. "Do you know a Mitchie Torres is missing as well? Same night as you? Strange coincidence, isn't it?"

Shane realized that Plan B was probably going to have to come into action. "No, I didn't know that," he said meekly.

"Shane," Brown yelled, his voice getting louder with every word. "You know you aren't supposed to have relationships with the campers. And now, you both run off together. You are in your underwear. What were you thinking? Counselors aren't supposed to date counselors, much less sleep with them. She is underage. You can't do this!"

Shane really didn't want to have to use Plan B. But Mitchie was more important than the consequences of what he was about to do.

"Fine," Shane shot back. "I'll tell you the truth. I was drinking. I got drunk last night and passed out. I have no idea where the hell my clothes are, because I was drunk. Happy now?"

Brown was shocked, yet a bit skeptical. "You aren't covering for her, are you? I don't even see alcohol anywhere."

Shane pointed to the empty bottles on the grass.

"Oh my god…" Brown's voice trailed off. "You brought alcohol into a camp for teenagers? And you got drunk? Shane, dammit! You came here to better yourself. I didn't think you would bring your old ways with you. I thought all that stuff on the news wasn't true. I can't believe I defended you. I told people you were getting better. But now you pull this shit?"

Shane could not do anything, except stand and listen to his uncle tearing him apart.

Brown continued his diatribe: "You are _never_ coming back to this camp again. I can't wait to see what your band members think about this. It will be good. You know, they almost kicked you out of the band before when you were mouthing off to everyone. Instead they sent you here to see if you would improve your bad habits."

Shane was shocked. It felt like a slap in the face.

"Oh, poor little Shane. No one told you that? Yes, well, let's see what they think now that you put all my kids in danger by bringing alcohol here and getting drunk. Have all your bags packed by five tonight. I want you out of here." With that, Brown picked up all three bottles and walked away.

Shane stood speechless. He had no idea that he had almost lost his band once. Now he was about to lose them forever. His uncle hated him, and his career would be in jeopardy, too. Shane had nothing to do, except bury his head in his hands. He finally understood fully how Mitchie felt when she wanted to kill herself.

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**I have like five reviews per chapter, which is so unbelievably awesome. I've been trying to update quickly, since you guys have been to nice to review. The more reviewing you do, the happier I am, and the more I feel like writing. wink wink Thanks everyone!**


	5. Chapter 5

**Sorry it took a bit longer to get this up. I wrote the next three chapters, actually, but I kept changing random things, which affected all three. Okay, I know that made no sense. You'll just have to trust me. And this is my longest chapter yet, and I think next chapter is another really short one. But at least I can get it up quickly. Unless I change my mind again. Haha, I'm such a loser. Enjoy...**

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It was one o'clock in the afternoon when Mitchie found Shane in his room, packing his suitcases.

"Hey," Mitchie said, opening his door. "What happened? Everyone's talking." Shane was silent, so Mitchie continued. "There's even this crazy rumor that you're leaving."

"Yeah, so?" Shane asked in a disgruntled tone.

Mitchie couldn't believe her ears. "No… how? What did you tell them?"

"Doesn't matter," Shane snapped.

"Yes it does. You're leaving. Why?" Mitchie pressed.

"Who cares? I'm leaving. I have to finish packing. And I need to check plane tickets. And I need to go find Tess," Shane muttered, while searching on the floor for his clothes.

Mitchie's anger started to rise. "Oh, right. I'm so sorry. Maybe you'll have a better time explaining things to her then, won't you? Who the hell cares that we spent the night together. Did that mean nothing to you?"

Shane got up and faced Mitchie. "Yes, it meant something. But it was wrong, because Tess has been patient with me, and I don't want her to know about last night. It would probably hurt her, and yes, she understands me. I was looking for her the whole time here. Her voice speaks to me, so yes, I need to go talk to her and explain everything to the girl who understands me best. So it doesn't matter what I felt last night, I'm not going to hurt her."

Mitchie didn't want to show Shane that her eyes were tearing up, so instead she ran out of his room, slamming the door behind her.

Shane wanted to curl up into ball. He wasn't sure what to think anymore. He thought that Tess was his one and only girl, but he had always had a connection with Mitchie. But it seemed like every time he got close to Mitchie, something would go wrong. Tess was much less complicated. He made up his mind, and decided to go see Tess immediately.

Shane walked out of his cabin to Tess's. After knocking on the door several times, Peggy answered.

Tess saw that it was Shane over Peggy's shoulder. "Out. Now," she commanded Peggy and Ella.

After they two left, she turned back to Shane and said, "Hey, lovey-sweetness. Look we have to talk."

Shane cringed at the disgusting pet name he was called. "Yeah, look, I need to talk to you about something, too. I mean, I bet you've heard some things—"

Tess dramatically put one hand over her heart and the other on Shane's lips to quiet them. "You just listen. You must know that I care for you, but I have heard some very disturbing things. And it's not you, it's me, but I just can't be in this relationship anymore. Make no mistake, I will always love you. But I cannot be with someone who I cannot trust fully. I need to marry a man who can not only further me in my career, but someone who I can love affectionately…"

Shane had no idea what the hell she was babbling on about. What was she saying about marriage or being in a relationship? Did he completely miss the part where he asked her out?

"So I am so sorry. I do hope we can still be friends. Maybe some day, when the timing is better, and when you can clean up your act, perhaps we can be together. But for now, I must break up with you," Tess ended.

Shane was extremely confused. He wasn't sure whether he should try to get Tess back or not, considering they were never even in a relationship in the first place.

"Look," Shane said. "I am mighty confused. But what I do know is that you are the one I want to be with. I knew it when I heard your song. Your beautiful song moves me every time I hear it. I always listen to it in my head. And I always want you around me because of it."

Tess rolled her eyes. "Oh, for godssake. I don't care. I cannot be with someone who is an alcoholic. It will ruin my career. I don't want your excuses."

Shane was really sure why he was fighting for a woman he wasn't actually dating, but he went on anyway. "Look, your song will always be in my heart. That's how I know we shouldn't leave each other." He paused. "And that's how I know we should begin dating. Which we haven't right? Or did I totally miss something?"

Tess was starting to get annoyed. "Excuse me? Are you implying that _you_ are too good for _me_?"

Shane shook his head. "No, I—"

"You are _not_ too good for me. And I _don't_ want you," Tess said, flatly.

Shane started to realize something. "You know, the only reason I ever liked you was because of your song. The girl who wrote that song, which is so full of meaning and life. The girl I heard my first day here. The girl who makes me want to be better. What happened to that girl? The girl who I've been thinking about all summer?"

"Oh… my… god! You are _such _an idiot. I didn't write that stupid song. I stole it from that other idiot. You two are both idiots, and you deserve each other," Tess yelled dramatically, then walked out the door with her head held high.

Meanwhile, Shane sat on the floor trying to take in everything that just happened. Did he just hear her right? They got in a fight because she broke up with him, even though they weren't dating, and the only reason they were dating (even though they weren't) was because of her song which wasn't really her song because she stole someone else's song. His head started to hurt.

Finally, things started to come into focus. What was he thinking? Tess was right, he was an idiot. And who was this other girl Tess was talking about? Whose song was it really?

Shane stood up abruptly. Of course. Mitchie. It had always been Mitchie. What was he even doing with Tess? He needed to find her. He ran as fast as he possibly could to Mitchie's cabin.

Finally, he got there and swung her door open. He saw that she was asleep with tissues covering the floor. Shane felt an immediate shot of guilt seep through his stomach for making Mitchie cry herself to sleep.

Shane thought about how to approach this. How could he tell the girl of his dreams how he really felt? And how sorry he was. And what an idiot he was. He couldn't apologize enough times. Words couldn't describe his feelings toward her. He suddenly saw a guitar sitting against the wall next to him. Shane quickly picked it up, and pulled up a chair right next to Mitchie.

Shane then began to sing: "Do you know what it's like, to feel so in the dark?" A sleepy Mitchie started to wake up. "To dream about a life, where you're the shining star." Mitchie opened both eyes, and saw that Shane Gray was right in front of her, singing. "Even though it seems like it's too far away. You have to believe in yourself, it's the only way…"

Once Mitchie got over the shock of waking up to an unbelievably hot guy serenading her, she began to sing with him. "This is real, this is me, I'm exactly where I'm supposed to be now…"

Shane then began to sing his song along with hers: "You're the voice I hear inside my head, the reason that I'm singing…"

Mitchie slowly began to get what was going on. The song ended and the two sat speechless for a minute. Shane couldn't wait any longer. In a second, he had the guitar down and was hugging Mitchie. She buried her head into his chest, and he whispered into her ear: "I'm sorry. I'm so sorry. Please forgive me. I was insane. I am so sorry. You were the girl of my dreams, not Tess. I don't know what I was thinking. Have I mentioned I'm sorry?"

Mitchie lifted her head to look up at Shane, staring into his deep brown eyes. Shane slowly bent his head down and pressed his lips to her. It was a warm and inviting kiss, and made Mitchie's body start to tingle as she closed her eyes. As the kiss started to grow more passionate, Mitchie pulled away.

"What just happened?" she asked.

Shane raised his eyebrow. "You really need me to explain?"

"No… I… Shane. Wow. My head is spinning. Everything is going so fast. I swear you hated me an hour ago," Mitchie said.

"I just realized what an idiot I was," Shane explained. "And how much you mean to me. And that Tess is a liar and a jerk."

Mitchie laughed. "So you aren't leaving then?"

Shane was silent. "Look, we can still see each other. Just not here. I can't come back here."

"What? Why?" Mitchie asked.

"It's a long story," Shane's words trailed off.

"Shane, you can't do this. You need to explain things to me," Mitchie said, almost in a commanding tone.

Shane took a deep breath in. "I just… I don't know. It's all so much. I'm trying to take it in myself."

Mitchie understood. "Fine, you may have some time. But don't think you have gotten away with not telling me this. As for not seeing you anymore, you're right. I will see you a lot. For one, I'll come to all the Connect Three concerts."

Shane avoided contact with Mitchie's eyes. "Yeah… about that…"

"What?" She asked.

"That might be a bit complicated as well…" Shane said.

"Shane…" Mitchie threatened, as her eyes narrowed.

"I kind of have been kicked out of the band."

"What?!" Mitchie almost yelled.

Shane was slightly amused by Mitchie's reaction. "Yeah. For the same reason I was kicked out of the camp, actually"

"Okay, you need to tell me this story. Now," Mitchie demanded. "What did you tell Brown that got him so angry?"

"Well, I tried to talk my way out of it. It just didn't work. So I resorted to Plan B." Shane said, shrugging.

"What was that?" Mitchie asked, afraid of the answer.

Shane tried to figure out the best way to word it. "Make sure he believed that I wasn't with you."

"Which you accomplished by…" Mitchie said, pausing to let Shane fill in the end of the sentence.

"Making him think that I had passed out drunk last night," he finished.

Mitchie's heart sank. "Why are you such an idiot? Why would you do that?"

"Hey, you aren't in trouble," Shane pointed out. "That's all I needed to know for everything to be worth it."

Shane glanced at the clock and added, "I've got to go finish packing. I'll call you." He kissed her on the cheek.

_Why are guys so stupid?_Mitchie asked herself. She decided that it was time to take matters into her own hands.

* * *

**By the way, guess what? I broke my ankle this weekend. Fun, huh? I feel off a porch. I think I've been watching Joe too much. His constant need to be clumsy has rubbed off on me. **

**Oh, yeah, read and review please! :)**


	6. Chapter 6

**Oh my gosh! You're guys' reviews seriously make me so happy. I think this is the most reviews I've ever gotten for a story (I have another account for different fanfics) and that one has like ten chapters and 30 reviews, and this one has five chapters and 32 reviews which is so freakin' awesome. I love you guys to death!**

**Oh yeah, and I lied. I changed this a few more times. Heh, heh. Sorry about that. Anyway, I have to tell you that I kind of didn't like how Kevin was a total and complete idiot in the movie. Oh wait, I guess it's Jason, not Kevin. But yeah, I thought that it didn't leave a whole lot of room for character development (ooh, that sounded cool. Like I actually know what I'm talking about or something). I want there to be some mini storylines later on, and Jason's storyline will be much better if he has more depth in his characters. Not that I'm taking out all his blonde moments, I'm just making him more realistic, too. Now, I shall shut up so you can read!**

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Mitchie finally found Nate and Jason as they were talking to Tess, near the exit of the camp.

"Yeah," Nate explained to Tess. "Since we kind of aren't a band anymore, it's a little hard for the band to record something with you."

Tess nodded. "Okay, so Shane is out. I understand where you are going with this. I can be your third band member!"

Nate and Jason started to laugh. They stopped, however, when they realized that Tess wasn't kidding.

"Oh, umm, yeah. I think we're pretty much done for good. Your song was good though, you should have a solo album or something. I can see a lot of people liking that style of music," Nate added.

Tess starting laughing in a menacing way, which freaked Nate out a little. "I have had enough of the three of you. Everyone in your stupid wanna-be band! You're all such no talent idiots! Suddenly you're together, and then you're not. You know what? I _am_ going to have a solo album. But not with that crap that I sang at Final Jam. I can't believe I lowered myself to singing such a horrible song written by a complete moron with no taste in music. I already explained this to your ex-band mate. It's not my song. It's a stupid song and I will never sing anything as painful as that ever again. Everyone here is so dumb. Your band is nothing. It never was anything! It never will be anything, either. I, on the other hand, _will_ be something, and cannot associate myself with such a lower brand of talent. Good day," Tess ended, dramatically stomping off.

"That was strange," Nate commented, shrugging Tess off. "By the way, have you seen Shane at all?"

"Yeah. Wait, have I seen him today? No," Jason said.

"Jason, stop being such a moron," Nate snapped.

"Geez, you don't have to get all cranky on me. It's not my fault someone in our band, who was our good friend, turned out to be an alcoholic jerk," Jason mumbled.

Nate shook his head, and the two started to put their bags in the limo when Mitchie ran up.

Nate heard someone coming and tried to hop in the limo. He then turned and saw Mitchie. "Oh, thank god it's you. I thought you were Tess," he said.

Mitchie giggled. "Um, no. I would be…"

"The girl that broke Shane's heart a few weeks ago?" Jason interrupted.

"I was going to say the girl who wrote the song that Tess stole at Final Jam, the girl she was just talking about, but I guess either would work," Mitchie joked.

"What do you want?" Nate asked, a little coldly.

"Listen, we need to talk. How much time do you have until you leave?" Mitchie asked urgently.

Nate looked at his watch. "Three minutes."

"Ok, I will explain everything as fast as humanly possible," Mitchie began. "So Tess, the jerk who was just here, framed me, so I couldn't play in Final Jam, she stole my song that I was going to sing, which apparently was the song that Shane heard, so really I was the girl he was looking for, not her, but then Shane found out I was his girl so I guess now we're together. It's complicated…"

As Mitchie took a breath for the first time since she began, as Nate said, "What does this have to do with us?"

"I'm getting there!" Mitchie assured him. "I know you kicked Shane out because you thought he had a drinking problem or something, but it's not true. I was with him that night, he was covering for me. I would have gotten in major trouble, and he would have too. But we didn't do anything, I swear to god. He just wanted to save me from being kicked out of camp, except I thought he was just going to make up some other excuse that wouldn't get him freaking banned from camp and break up his band. You have to believe me, Shane has changed so much. He's not that jerk he was before, he's a great guy now, and I know he will be a great band mate. It's not too late to fix everything."

"I'm lost," Jason said. "Can you start from the beginning?"

Nate sighed, ignoring Jason. "I don't know. How am I supposed to know you aren't lying? Everything has been so complicated here. First Tess is his 'special' girl, then you are, then Shane's nice, then he's bad and drinking…"

"Do you want to get rid of all this confusion and complication? If so, you need to trust me," Mitchie urged, with desperation in her voice.

"What about the beer cans? Where did Shane get those? Uncle Brown saw them," Nate said.

"Beer cans? What? How did…" Mitchie paused. "Caitlyn. Of course, she must have—"

"One minute, boys. Then we're off," the limo driver interrupted.

"Look, it's nice of you to try to cover for Shane, but it just seems like everything has gone too far. It's too late to fix everything that has gone wrong," Nate said, sighing.

"No, it's not! If you could get the band back together, would you?" Mitchie asked.

"Yes!" Jason piped in, and then grew quiet when Nate shot him a threatening glare.

Nate turned back to Mitchie. "Maybe I would. But things would have to be different. With Shane, I mean."

"They would be. He's a completely different person now," Mitchie assured them.

Nate started to shake his head. Mitchie saw the doubt in his eyes, so she grabbed his hands. "Look me in the eyes, and see if I am lying. We can do this, Nate. We can fix everything that has gone wrong. My mom is always telling me that the major choices you make in life define who you are. So what's it going to be? Take the easy way out of this, or help me restore everything back to how it was?"

"Time to go, boys. Nate, Jason, you don't want to be late for your flight," the driver said, honking his horn.

Nate was stuck. Both options looked fairly appealing in their own way. He could leave forever or try to clean up the mess. At that moment, Nate remembered a line of the poem that Shane used to always recite: _Two roads diverged in a wood, and I took the one less travelled by, and that has made all the difference._

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**Haha, that was such a corny/cliché ending to the chapter, but I couldn't help myself. I love that poem. :D Anyway, please read and review. Wait, I guess you read it already. Please review! I hopefully can have the next chapter up soon, and then you can see what Nate chose to do.**

**Also, I ended up adding a lot to this chapter, since it was really short before. I also left in some Jason airhead moments, but like I said, he's going to have a lot going on underneath that. +evil grin+**


	7. Chapter 7

**Hello readers! I decided to get this chapter up really soon, because you awesome people gave me 8 reviews in one day, which is insanely cool. In this next chapter, the story has jumped ahead a few months. I will fill you in on everything that has occurred:**

**- Connect Three got back together. They went on tour with Mitchie and Caitlyn, who open for Connect Three. Mitchie does vocals, while Caitlyn works her magic on the computer, making Mitchie's background music. She even created music on a few songs for Connect Three.**

**- Brown forgave Shane and learned the truth about Tess, banning her from the camp instead.**

**- Shane and Mitchie began officially dating.**

**- Finally, there was some trouble when Mitchie's mother found out that Mitchie was dating someone who was 18, and that she was going to be staying in the same bus as him. Mitchie ignored her mother, and went on tour anyway, causing some… friction, shall we say?**

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Backstage, everyone was jumping around and celebrating. They had just finished another concert, where they all rocked it. Shane picked up Nate, threw him over his shoulder, and started running around insanely.

Nate no longer knew whether he liked having the goofy and energetic Shane back, or whether he liked the grumpy Shane who at least wouldn't toss him around all the time.

The tour buses pulled up outside, and Connect Three pilled in first, followed by Mitchie and Caitlyn. Once everyone was inside the bus, it took off.

"Bye, Phoenix!" Jason said, waving to some of the fans outside the bus.

"So where to next?" Nate asked.

"Well," their manager began, looking at his clipboard. "In two days, we have you scheduled for Los Angeles."

"Yeah, LA!" Shane hooted, and started jumping up and down, then running around the bus crazily. He then ran and jumped in the seat next to Mitchie. "One of my best friends from when I was little lives there, and I really want you to meet him."

"Yeah, sounds great. I can't wait," Mitchie said, smiling. She was excited that Shane was so willing to let her into his life.

Caitlyn sat there, observing everything, like she always did. She was normally fairly quiet around Connect Three, because she was just one of those people who liked to sit back and watch instead of actually perform. Caitlyn thought she had the three band mates figured out pretty well. The youngest, Nate, was the one who led the band and was in charge of everything, ironically, since he was the youngest. Caitlyn always wondered if it bugged Nate that he didn't get to have fun and mess around as much as Shane, since he had to be the adult in the group. She definitely noticed, however, how much he admired his two older brothers, especially Shane. Nate seemed to love to horse around with Shane, probably because Shane liked that sort of personality where someone could just act insane and not judge themselves. The next one, eighteen year old Shane, was nothing like the jerk Caitlyn met at camp. He was the one who had the most energy of anyone in the group. He was always jumping around and crashing into things and getting hurt, but he had a sort of hidden sensitive side that only came out when he was around Mitchie. Finally, there was the twenty year old Jason. Caitlyn had always thought Jason was just sort of a dumb ass, but he was so much more than what she originally saw in him. Jason was always the one making Caitlyn feel included; he was very sensitive that way. She also noticed how much Jason loved kids, and how much they loved him. He would always get down on his knees for the kids, and play with them. In a way, it seemed like Jason liked kids more than teenagers or adults, probably because they were less judging. Caitlyn then took a breath and curled her feet up, looking out the window.

Jason stood over by the sink, glancing around at everyone in the bus. The only people left in the front lounge were Mitchie and Shane, who were making out on the couch, and Caitlyn who sat over by the window. Jason poured two cups of hot cocoa and walked over to where she was, and sat down.

"Hey," he said.

"Oh, hey," Caitlyn whispered, turning to look at him. "Great job tonight."

"Thanks," Jason whispered back. "Wait, why are we whispering?"

Caitlyn laughed. "I don't know. I don't want to disturb them." She gestured over the couple of the couch. "Plus, Nate's probably asleep already."

"You should probably join him. It's almost 12:30," Jason pointed out.

"Yeah, because I need a bed time? I'm that young? I'm not a baby, I'm sixteen," she snapped.

"You know, lack of sleep can make people a bit cranky…" Jason laughed.

Caitlyn laughed, too. "Okay, maybe I should get ready for bed. Are you going to sleep, too?"

"Yeah, I'm just going to clean up a bit first," Jason explained. "I feel like their mother sometimes! Slobs…"

Caitlyn giggled. "Okay, well let me know if you need help," she offered.

"I will," Jason said. "Thanks."

Caitlyn took one last sip of cocoa and set it down. "Night," she said sleepily, and went to the back bathroom to get ready.

Over on the couch, Mitchie and Shane came up for air. Shane took Mitchie hands and started tracing the outline of it with his finger.

"So, it looks like we have a day off tomorrow," Shane said. "Thoughts?"

"One," Mitchie replied, and started to kiss him again.

Since they had been completely oblivious to everyone else in the room, Jason decided to have some fun. He went over to the couch and sat down next to them. "I have an idea," Jason proposed.

Mitchie broke the kiss, and turned to look at Jason. "Yeah, what's that?" she asked.

Shane, on the other hand, glared at Jason and tried to motion for him to go away. Jason ignored Shane and said, "Well, there's the L.A. Zoo, and since we're going to be in Los Angeles anyway for tomorrow—"

Shane groaned. "That's such a dumb idea. How old do you think we are? Then do you want color? And read little picture books? And play _Pretty Pretty Princess_?"

Mitchie shrugged. "I think the Zoo sounds fun."

"Oh, so do I babe. Good idea, Jason," Shane said, and pulled Mitchie back over to him, where they resumed their previous activity of making out.

Jason wasn't sure whether to be amused or offended. Either way, he finished up his cleaning and turned off the light on his way out.

About ten minutes later, Mitchie and Shane realized it was completely dark.

"I think we should go to bed now," Mitchie said.

Shane whimpered. "But… but… do we have to?"

Mitchie laughed. She pecked him on the lips and got up. "Do you want to get ready in the front or back bathroom?"

Shane realized he wasn't going to convince her. "Okay, fine. Back bathroom."

Mitchie grabbed her toothbrush and pajamas. As she got ready, she realized how perfectly everything was going in her life. Things were finally launching with her career, and she had an amazing boyfriend and wonderful friends. However, she always felt a little sad when she thought about her home life, especially her mother. She had only called her twice during the entire tour. Her dad was constantly out of town, so it didn't make a big difference to him, but she could only imagine how lonely her mom was. And Mitchie was sure that she wasn't helping her mom feel much better. Mitchie's heart and head seemed to fight with each other constantly. Mitchie's heart told her to call her mom, and fix everything. But her head convinced her that nothing she could do would ever fix the things she had done to her mom, like leaving her mom when she most needed her daughter, and never calling while on tour.

Mitchie finished up her bedtime routine and got out of the bathroom. Shane was waiting for her outside the door.

"Nice shirt. I think I recognize it," Shane laughed. Mitchie liked wearing his clothes to bed. Tonight, she was wearing her Fruit Loop pajama bottoms and Shane's baggy, black T-shirt.

Mitchie smiled seductively at Shane and walked to the other end of the bus, where all the bunks were. Mitchie's slept in the top, right bunk, the one right above Shane's. She crawled up the steps, into her bunk, and snuck under the covers. Shane stood outside the bunks. He could crawl into his bed. But he decided Mitchie's looked better. He opened the curtain and sat on top of her covers.

Mitchie looked at him and smiled. Luckily, the bunks were fairly big.

"Just wanted to say goodnight," Shane whispered, and kissed her neck.

Mitchie felt her body tickle. "Good night," she said, lying down. She felt sleepy, and closed her eyes, until she felt an arm wrap around her.

She rolled around to face Shane. "Shane, what are you doing?" She whispered.

"Shhhh," he said. "I'm trying to sleep."

"Shane," Mitchie breathed. "You need to be a big boy and go to your own bunk."

Shane stuck his bottom lip out and pouted.

Mitchie shook her head. "I think you really should go to your own bed. I mean, I've never slept with a guy before." She paused realizing how that sounded.

"That's okay. I've never slept with a guy either," Shane joked and closed his eyes.

"Babe, I mean it. Time to go to your own bed," Mitchie warned.

"Fine," he groaned. He crawled out of her bunk, closing the curtain behind him. He then poked his head through her curtain again and said, "Night beautiful," kissing her one last time.

As he slipped under the covers of his own bed, Shane thought about how lucky he was. He finally closed his eyes, and went to sleep.

* * *

**Warning: this next bit is kind of long. I'm sorry!**

**So number one: I know the jump may have been a bit strange, but I felt like too much time was being spent on the same things, like it would have started to get repetitive or something. So I decided to see what new adventures await them on the road. Please review! Thanks mucho!**

**Another thing—for Caitlyn's descriptions of everyone, I tried to keep it fairly similar to what I've read about them and how I've seen them act on videos and such. Joe is the goofy one, Nick is the mature one who still likes to have a good time, and Kevin is the big teddy bear in a way.**

**Oh yeah, I forgot a disclaimer. Are you allowed to have disclaimers at the end? Oh well, I declare that my other disclaimers in previous chapters count for all other chapters in this story.**

**Also, I just enabled anonymous reviews, because I completely forgot that I had to enable it for it to work. So I'm sorry if you tried and it didn't work before!**

**Last thing: I know this chapter was very filler-ish, but I wanted to let you guys know how things were going on the bus, get you caught up, etc. And don't think that Mitchie and Shane are going to be all blissful and skipping off into the sunset. There are some major problems coming up. One of them will be Shane's "best friend" in Los Angeles.**

**Wait, no this is the last thing: I love you guys to death for reviewing! It makes as happy as a kid on Christmas. I actually smile like a little two year old. It's creepy. Thanks everyone, please keep it up!**


	8. Chapter 8

**So, I had no idea how long this chapter was going to be when I wrote it. I wrote this for a couple reasons, one of them being because it was a fun break from the tour and all that. But I was going to make it all one chapter until I realized that it was fourteen pages long. Heh, heh. Yeah, so I am going to split it up into two parts.**

**Just a warning: I have no idea about the actual layout of the Los Angeles Zoo, or what animals, stands, shows, etc. they had so I just decided to guess. Sorry if my facts aren't correct!**

* * *

Mitchie awoke to the sound of a loud horn outside her bunk. "Everybody up!" she heard. She poked her sleepy head outside the bunk curtain and saw Shane on the floor.

"Jason, you suck," he said.

Mitchie laughed, realizing that Shane must have fallen out of bed from shock when the horn blew.

Nate, who had the bed across from Mitchie's jumped out of bed, barely missing Shane. "So what are we doing today?"

"Umm, hello? We're in Los Angeles! Actually, we are at the back entrance of our hotel. So, of course, we're going to the L.A. Zoo!" Jason exclaimed, jumping up and down.

Caitlyn crawled down out of her bed and said, "Yeah, sounds fun."

Nate shook his head and Shane grunted.

"What?" Mitchie asked. "It sounds like fun."

"Chicks _always_ like this sort of crap," Shane protested.

"One, don't call us 'chicks'," Mitchie warned, going over to stand by Caitlyn and Jason. "Two, what's so bad about it?"

Shane got up and stood by Nate. "Because this is how it will go," Nate explained. "You girls will want to run around playing with little kids and animals and going 'awwwwwww' like little five-year-olds."

"Yeah," Shane agreed. "We need to do some manly activities for once. People are starting to talk. We should play football, or shoot things, or something. We shouldn't be forced to stare at furry animals through glass. You girls always choose what we do, and it always ends up the same way. We hold your purses and bags as you shop and try on make-up, or boring crap like that."

"Do you know why the girls always win these arguments, and why guys will always follow the girls around, doing whatever they want to?" Mitchie asked with her flirty smile.

Mitchie walked over to Shane, grabbing his neck, and kissing him passionately.

"Jesus, get a room," Nate murmured.

Mitchie pulled away from Shane. "If you ever want to do that again, you'll come with us, having no complaints."

Shane turned to look at Nate, with a dead serious look in his eye. "Nate, we're going. End of story."

Mitchie laughed, realizing the power she had over Shane.

"So what are we going to do about fans? You know we won't be able to get anywhere. We will be taking pictures and signing autographs the whole time. You know that it won't be any fun," Nate pointed out, always being the logical one in the group.

"How about we wear disguises? That would be way fun," Mitchie suggested.

"Yeah," Caitlyn agreed. "And if we get caught, we leave. Simple as that."

"Let's do it," Jason agreed.

"Jason, why are you taking the chick side? You're supposed to be one of us!" Shane said, slightly offended.

"We have all those awesome wigs in the back, remember?" Mitchie pointed out. Shane and Nate realized they no longer had any say or control. "I can wear the short, black wig, and wear a lot of emo make-up or something," she continued.

"Let's at least try it," Caitlyn suggested. "If it's lame, and won't work, we will spend our only concert-free day until the end of the tour inside the tour bus."

Nate finally gave in, begrudgingly: "Fine."

Mitchie grabbed Caitlyn and the two headed to the back of the bus. About thirty minutes later, when all three males were ready, they heard the two girls in the bathroom shouting.

"Oh, _hell _no!" they heard Alyson scream.

"Well… you don't look like you…" Mitchie mentioned, trying to calm her down.

Jason, Nate, and Shane all inched closer to the door, trying to figure out what was going on. Suddenly, Mitchie came out in black skinny jeans, a blank tank top, and a black wig, wearing very dark make-up. Shane walked over to her, and after making sure that it really was Mitchie, he wrapped his arms around her.

"I'm not coming out!" Caitlyn yelled from behind the door.

"Cay, it's okay," Mitchie assured her. "No one will make fun of you."

"What did you dress her as?" Nate asked.

Caitlyn answered from the bathroom. "A preppy, girly-girl whose I.Q. is about 40 points below mine."

"It's okay, we won't laugh. Just come out," Jason said.

"Yeah, just wait until you see what these idiots are wearing," Mitchie laughed.

There was a pause, and then a "fine" from behind the door. Caitlyn stepped out. Shane, Nate, and Jason's mouths all dropped. Caitlyn was wearing pink high heels with bow ties, a very short denim skirt, and a hot pink spaghetti strap shirt that showed a bit of her stomach. Her hair was straightened and she was wearing a ton of make-up.

"You… look…" Jason started, and decided not to finish the sentence.

"Hot…" Nate finished for him. In one second, Caitlyn was on top of him, pinning him down to the floor, with one arm behind his back.

"You take that back!" Caitlyn yelled at him, pushing him further into the floor.

Shane lifted Caitlyn up off Nate, as she moved her legs around in the air trying to kick him. "Put me down," she shouted.

"Yeah, I wouldn't have been able to recognize Caitlyn if she hadn't tackled Nate. You're going to have to control that at the park, missy," Shane laughed.

"You did a great job," Jason said to Mitchie, trying not to stare obviously at Caitlyn's long legs.

"Thanks," Mitchie replied, giving a wide smile. "Wait, I forgot I can't smile. It's doesn't really go with my look."

Shane laughed. "Ha! I'd love to see you try to go this whole day without smiling."

Caitlyn sat in the corner with her arms and legs crossed. "Mitchie, why did you let them do their own wardrobe? They look like morons!"

Mitchie laughed, looking them over. Nate was wearing a very thick mustache, aviator sunglasses, and business type attire. Jason was wearing a baseball cap, basketball shorts, and a large, baggy basketball shirt. Finally, Shane was wearing faded, baggy jeans, a smiley face T-shirt, a headband, and sunglasses.

"Nate looks like a Colombian drug lord, Jason looks like a bench warmer, and Shane looks like a tree hugger," Caitlyn criticized. "Isn't the whole point of this not to draw attention to us?"

"Trust me, no one will be staring at us. They'll just be staring at you long legs and as—I mean, uh, beautiful face," Nate covered.

"Calm down," Mitchie warned when she saw Caitlyn getting angry again. "Let's just go. This will be fun."

"Let's make a bet," Shane said. "First person to drop their character will be thrown in the pool at the hotel tonight."

"Yeah, okay," Jason approved. "That means Mitchie, you can't smile. Caitlyn, umm, try to the best of your ability to act flirty and ditzy. Shane, you have to be nice to everyone, help little kids, etc. And Nate, you should talk in some sort of accent or something."

Shane held the peace sign up, while Nate said, "Bon giorno! Zee I can talk een accentz!"

Mitchie laughed, and then covered her mouth. "Doesn't count, we weren't out of the bus yet!"

The five people stepped out of the bus, followed by their newest bodyguard. The last bodyguard quit, claiming that they were too hard to all keep track of. "Oh, come on. Does he really have to come with us? It's so obvious that way," Shane insisted.

"You have to promise to stay a few people back, okay Mark?" Nate asked.

"Whatever you say," the bodyguard answered in a deep voice.

Two cabs suddenly pulled up. "Who's coming with me in this cab?" Mark asked.

All five people looked at each other, not wanting to have to ride with him. "We'll squeeze into one cab. We have money to pay him," Shane said.

They all piled in, very squished. Nate sat up front, while the other four shoved themselves in the back three seats. "Where to?" the driver asked, turning on the engine.

"Los Angeles Zoo," Nate answered.

"Okay, that'll be around forty dollars," the driver said, putting the car into drive.

"Hey, you see the cab behind you? If you can ditch that cab, and get us there before that cab gets there, we will give you one hundred and fifty dollars," Shane suggested.

Everyone nodded at each other. Mitchie looked out the back window as Mark started to get in the cab. "Go, go, go!" She shrieked.

The cab driver stepped on the gas, and took off. "Okay, as soon as we get there, we need to run. I got the tickets online already. I don't think Mark would make them do a zoo announcement, since it would draw some bad publicity. He's just going to tell the security guards, probably. So we've got to watch out for them," Jason said. He looked out the back window, seeing that Mark's cab was no where in sight.

When the cab pulled up at the zoo, everyone loaded themselves out. Nate paid the cab driver, and everyone started to run towards the entrance. When Mitchie, Jason, Nate, and Shane got to the entrance gate, they realized Caitlyn was not there with them. When she arrived a minute behind them, she said, "This is not working. Three inch heels and running do not go well together." Jason gave the entrance worker their tickets, and everyone stepped inside to figure out a game plan.

"I wonder where Mark is right now. He's got to be pissed," Mitchie said.

"Wait, the cell phones. They have trackers with each other. Let's see where he is," Nate said, opened his phone and pressed a few buttons. "He's about to pull up to the zoo. Thank god he's too fat to actually run."

"Crap, that means he can track us too. We have to do something with these cell phones," Shane said. "Let's all go to different ends of the park, and place the cell phones somewhere to throw him off. We can meet back at the elephant theater in the middle of the park."

Everyone nodded, and Shane, Nate, and Mitchie took off, running. Jason started to when he realized that Caitlyn couldn't run.

Jason ran back to her. "This sucks," Caitlyn complained.

"Want to hop on?" Jason offered, turning his back to her.

Caitlyn was a bit skeptical until she saw Mark attempting to run up the concrete path to the entrance. "Okay," she agreed, jumping on Jason's back.

Over in the jungle section of the zoo, Shane and Mitchie ran through the path. Shane put his cell phone in a tree, while Mitchie put hers behind the trashcan next to the monkey cage. She then turned back to Shane.

The jungle section had a lot of trees, so Shane pulled Mitchie behind one. She wrapped her arms around him, as he lifted her up. She then wrapped her legs around him, and ran her fingers through his hair. Shane kissed his way from her mouth to her neck, as Mitchie groaned. She then whispered with her eyes closed, "We should get back to them soon." Shane nodded and set her down. Suddenly, the two of them saw a flash. Once their eyes recovered from the bright light in their eyes, Shane and Mitchie saw a smiling five-year-old boy holding a camera who started to run away.

"Was he watching us that whole time?" Mitchie asked.

"Little five-year-old pervert. What would his mother think?" Shane grumbled.

Mitchie laughed. "Well, we were sort of making out in a public place. But let's go, everyone is probably already waiting."

When Mitchie and Shane arrived, they saw Jason and Caitlyn sitting near the back of the empty outdoor theater. "Hey guys," Jason greeted them as they walked over. "You see Nate?"

"No," Shane shrugged. "I'd suggest calling him, but I guess we don't really have that option anymore." As he said this, Nate walked up behind everyone.

"Boo," Nate whispered.

"Dude, where were you?" Jason asked.

"Getting these," Nate answered, throwing everyone a walkie-talkie. "Now we must have a few rules to our little game. First, if anyone yells 'run', we all run in different directions and hide. No questions; just do it. We can meet up later with these walkie-talkies. Second, god forbid, if anyone of us actually gets caught by Mark or a security guard, the others have to help figure out a way to get said person out of trouble. It'll be hard, but we can do it. Finally, always stay in character. Starting now…"

"So…" Caitlyn smiled and giggled, snapping into her character. "Like, what do you all, like, want to do?"

"I think I want to go promote world peace or something. Then maybe hug some plants," Shane joked, putting on a huge, fake smile. "Oh well, I don't see one. I will just hug the next best thing." He then went over and put his arms around Mitchie.

Mitchie tried very hard not to smile. "Hey, emo people can hug, too," she said, addressing the glares coming her way.

"Welle, I'ma actually eh getting a leettle hungary," Nate said, using a horrible attempt at an Italian accent.

"I saw a stand by the lion cage that had some food," Shane suggested. They all started to follow him over to the stand. While everyone was deciding what to order, a strange guy walked over to Caitlyn.

"Hey, babe, wassup?" he flirted.

Caitlyn gave a can-I-please-beat-the-shit-out-of-him look to Nate, but Nate shook his head. Caitlyn decided to suck it up. She immediately put on a girly grin and said, "Oh, nothing much. I'm just buying some lunch."

"Ah, tha's cool, tha's cool," the guy said, leaning into Caitlyn.

"Oh, darn, I forgot my money," Caitlyn pouted at him. She looked up at him with her fake sad eyes, and waited for him to offer to buy her lunch. When he didn't, Caitlyn took desperate measures by "accidentally" dropping her purse. Turning away from the guy, she slowly bent over to pick it up. Caitlyn felt the guy staring at her ass.

"I gotcha lunch for you, babe. Anything you want…" he said, winking at her.

"Great," Caitlyn said, turning to the food cart. "I will take three burritos, two tacos, four pretzels, two sodas, three waters, two popcorns, and a large ice cream." She turned back to the guy, whose mouth was wide open. Caitlyn pouted again and complained, "I'm _really_ hungry!"

"Yeah, babe, it's cool," the guy soothed, paying the cashier. Shane, Mitchie, Nate, and Jason watched with amazement and awe from a few feet away.

"Well, thanks. Bye," Caitlyn said, turning away from him. She felt the guy put his hands over her hips. "Excuse me? What are you doing?" she asked, trying to pull away.

"You excoosed, baby," he said, pulling her in. Caitlyn tried to push herself away, when she felt another arm around her. She looked up to see Jason at her side.

"Hey honey," Jason said. "Thanks for getting us lunch. Have I mentioned that you look beautiful today?" He kissed her cheek, as the stranger took his hands off of Caitlyn.

"You two are, wha? Dating or something?" The guy asked, slightly offended.

"Yeah," Jason answered, pulling Caitlyn in tight. Jason could see the stranger's anger level starting to rise. "We're expecting, too." Jason started to pat Caitlyn's stomach.

It took everything that Caitlyn had for her not to laugh when the guy said, "That's hot. Well, uhh, check ya later."

When he was gone, the other three joined Caitlyn and Jason. "Ohhh, I'm so happy for you two!" Shane said.

"That's hot," Jason mocked.

"I was a little worried for a while there," Caitlyn laughed. "Thanks for saving me. Although, I thought he'd bust us when you mentioned the pregnancy thing."

"Nah," Jason smiled at her. "I figured he'd go easier on you. He looked pretty pissed when you made him buy forty dollars worth of lunch, but not even a dick like him can hurt a pregnant girl."

Caitlyn laughed and said in her valley girl accent: "So, like, who wants, like, lunch?"

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**I seriously was not expecting this chapter to be this long! Even split up, it's my longest chapter, lol. I promise to have the second part up in like an hour. I just have to proof it. :) By the way, thanks for all your kind reviews last chapter! **


	9. Chapter 9

**Alright, here is part two. Thanks for being so patient with me!**

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Everyone laughed at Caitlyn as they grabbed the food and sat down at some nearby tables. When they were done eating, Nate left to throw everything away. He looked at watch and saw that it was almost 1:30 in the afternoon. Up ahead, he saw the bathroom, and decided to make a quick stop before returning.

Nate walked inside the stall, and sat down, taking care of business. As he did, he realized someone was in the stall next to him. Nate looked down and saw Mark's big feet and black shoes. He immediately started to get nervous. It was still early; they still had a lot more they wanted to do at the zoo. He didn't want to leave yet. Nate then heard Mark mutter, "Damn kids," and leave the bathroom. Nate finished up and left the stall, then stood next to the bathroom door where he heard Mark and someone else talking.

"Yes, sir. I will be glad to help you look for them. Do you want me to notify all security guards?" a voice asked.

"No, no," Mark answered. "I was given clear orders not to cause a scene or anything. It may come to that later, but for now, I'm sure you and I can find them. They're just a group of teenagers dressed up in ridculous costumes. How hard can they be to find?"

The two voices walked away. Nate whipped out his walkie-talkie and urgently commanded, "Run! Everybody run! Now! Meet at kids' play area!" He opened the door to see which way the security guard and Mark were heading. However, they were no where in sight. Nate decided to start making his way to the children's play area, which was on the other side of the park. He was afraid of running into one of the two people looking for them, so he took the path which ran through the jungle area to stay hidden. He stopped running as he saw a kid holding a bunch of maps of the zoo. "Hey, kid. I'll give you twenty bucks for all the maps," Nate offered.

"They're free at the front," the kid said.

"Which makes twenty bucks a pretty good offer, huh?" Nate asked. The kid handed him the maps, and Nate gave him the money. He took a quick look at one of the maps too see where he was going. When Nate finally arrived at the kids play area, he couldn't see his friends anywhere.

"Psssst, Nate!" he heard. "Down here!"

Nate bent down to the play igloo where the voices were coming from. He crawled through the opening and saw all four people inside. He crammed himself in, too. Luckily, the igloo was pretty big.

"That was really close," Nate said, catching his breath. "Mark was right by where we were. He was in the bathroom stall next to me."

"Yeah, we saw him," Mitchie said.

Nate took a deep breath. "He was talking to some guy. Only Mark and one security guard know to look for us, no one else does. So we only have to avoid two people in this huge place."

"That was kind of fun," Caitlyn commented.

"Hey the fun doesn't have to end," Jason pointed out. "There's still this whole play area."

"I call swings!" Mitchie yelled, scrambling out of the igloo. "Jason, hold my purse?'

"Yeah, Jason, can you hold these maps?" Nate asked, handing the maps to him.

"While you're at it…" Caitlyn smiled and took of her heels, handing them to Jason.

Jason laughed and walked over to the shaded bench where he could watch his friends, setting everyone's things down. Mitchie was swinging, and Shane was pushing her. Caitlyn was sliding down the slide, and Nate was playing "peek-a-boo" with some kids in a log. He enjoyed seeing Nate act his age for once, and having so much fun. Normally Nate was so sensible, and today it seemed that he was just acting like a normal teenager. Jason's attention turned, however, to a little girl crying by the alligator structure. He walked over a knelt down next to her.

"Hey, what's wrong?" he asked.

"I… hurt… my… knee…" the little girl sniffed, starting to cry.

"Awww, poor thing, let me see," Jason said sympathetically, looking at the girl's bloody knee. "That must hurt, huh? Do you want a band-aid?"

The girl's tear stained face nodded. Jason ran over to Mitchie's bag and grabbed some water and a green band-aid which he saw her put in earlier. Jason walked back over to the girl, smiling, and said, "I'm just going to pour some water on it, okay?" He opened the water bottled and washed the blood off her knee, drying it with a napkin. He then showed the girl the band-aid. "Do you like it? It's green. Do you like green?"

The little girl nodded.

"Me too," Jason said, putting the band aid on. "There you go. Does it still hurt?"

The girl meekly sniffed, "Yeah," and pouted.

"Okay, we are going to do something to make it magically feel better, ok? Do exactly what I do. Clap"—he clapped and the little girl followed—"put your hands in the air"—they both lifted up their hands—"touch your nose"—the little girl started to smile a bit as she did this—"give me a high five"—she touched her little hand to his—"and now give me a funny face!" The little girl stuck her tongue out at Jason as he squished his lips together in a fishy face.

"Feel better?" Jason asked. The little girl nodded. "Okay, go play."

Jason got up, turning around to see Caitlyn standing behind him. He tried to hide that he was blushing a little. "How did you do that?" she asked hm.

Jason realized what she was talking about and replied, "Oh, well, you just sort of have to get their mind off where it hurts, I guess."

"You seem so… natural with them. I wish I had that," Caitlyn admitted. "It's kind of why I don't think I could ever be a mother. I don't think I have that ability to be like a big teddy bear for them."

"I'm sure if you did ever have a kid, you'd be a great mother," Jason offered. The two them smiled at each other and walked off to the slides.

Nate, Mitchie, and Shane all joined them soon. The sun was almost about to go down when Nate said, "I really am surprised we haven't been caught yet. I think one of us should go try and find where they are."

"How?" Shane asked.

"The cell phones," Mitchie realized. "We can go find one and see where it says Mark is."

"I hid mine in the arctic place by the polar bears. Let's go check that one. It's right over there," Nate suggested.

Everybody grabbed their things and ran over to the circular arctic center. As they entered, Mitchie noticed the penguins and ran over to them.

"I'll go get the cell, you guys can look at penguins," Nate said, rolling his eyes. He ran to the other side of the center and bent down to get the cell phone. He pressed the button to see where Mark was. He looked around the zoo map. His heart stopped when he realized that Mark was… Nate suddenly felt a rough pair of hands on his shoulders.

"I have been looking for you goddamn kids all day. We are leaving, now!" Mark yelled.

"No, wait, I…" Nate stammered.

"Where are your little friends?" Mark asked, looking around.

"They… I… uhh... you se—" his words were cut off by the sound of his walkie-talkie saying, "Hey, Nate, we just saw Mark coming. Better run. Meet us at the end of the park, by the flamingos."

"Ah, well that worked out well, didn't it?" Mark asked.

"Hey, you can't do this!" Nate yelled, struggling to break free.

"I can do whatever I want to! I was not hired by you; I was hired by your manager, Mr. Carlton. I take orders from him, not you. And my orders were to make sure you stayed at the zoo only for a little while, enough to have _some_ fun, and then leave. And guess what? A little while ended a couple hours ago. So it's time to go get your friends. Now!"

"Wait!" Nate jerked.

Mark paused. "What?"

"I have to go to the bathroom!" Nate whined. "I'm going to go in my pants if I can't go now. Please, Mark! I really have to go!" He crossed his legs.

"Fine, you have two minutes. And if you try anything…" Mark grabbed his collar and walked him over to the bathroom. Before letting Nate go in he said, "Give me your walkie-talkie. The only thing you will be doing in there is peeing." Nate reluctantly handed it to him and went inside.

One in the stall, Nate looked around for anything to help him. He had no idea what to do. Why did his friends talk on the walkie-talkie? Their day was going to be over soon because of their stupidity. He suddenly heard a knock on the upper window. He climbed up on the toilet seat and forced it open.

"Caitlyn!" He whispered. "Boy, am I glad to see you. How can you get me out of here? Mark is right there outside the door."

"Squeeze through the window," she said urgently. We will catch you." Caitlyn got down off of Shane's shoulders as Nate tried squeezing through the window.

"Almost done in there?" Mark asked through the door.

"Yeah, yeah," Nate assured him, and finally forced himself out of the tiny window. Eight pairs of hands caught him. They then all ran up the hill to the reptile house.

Once inside, Nate hugged them all. "You're amazing. But we really should leave soon."

"I'm sad," Mitchie said. "This has been such a fun day. I can't believe it's almost over. We haven't even seen most of the animals."

"Hey, before we leave, let's all just run around the park. We will run and look at all the animals in their cages, and then we will leave," Jason suggested.

"Yeah, sounds good. We will follow you, Jason," Shane offered. "Go!"

Mitchie, Caitlyn, Shane, and Nate all took off after Jason. It took them about an hour of running through random animal houses to finish looking at them all. They ended in the middle of the park, out of breath.

"Time… to… leave," Caitlyn said, completely out of air.

"Yeah… we've got to go. One last run to the entrance, huh?" Shane said.

"We should take the aquarium and garden area to get there. Easier to hide," Mitchie suggested.

They all agreed and rushed down into the aquarium. They walked under the archway where all the fish swam over their heads, while Mitchie paused for a second to look at one particular fish.

"What's up, babe?" Shane asked her, leaving the rest of the group.

"Do you ever wonder if they get bored here? Having such a simple life?" Mitchie asked. "Maybe they like the simplicity, or maybe they just couldn't take that much excitement, or maybe they feel content because they don't know about everything else there is to do or maybe—"

"Mitchie," Shane interrupted. "We've got to go catch up with everyone now."

Mitchie laughed. "Right, sorry. Let's go." She grabbed his hands and they ran to the end of the aquarium. Once they caught up with everyone, they all ran up the steps and into the zoo's botanical gardens.

Mitchie grabbed Caitlyn's arm and started skipping through the grass with her. Observing this, Shane shook his head. Sometimes, he just couldn't understand chicks. Finally, all five reached the exit of the park. It was almost completely dark, so everyone quickly made their way down to the taxi spot. This time, they got in the bigger taxi, so they didn't have to squeeze. Mitchie and Shane sat in the middle seat, and everyone else sat in the far back. An exhausted Mitchie then put her head on Shane's chest as he wrapped his arm around her.

"This day has been awesome," Jason commented, closing his eyes.

"Perfect," Caitlyn agreed. "But if you think I am ever wearing this crap again, you are sadly mistaken. I'll be the emo chick next time, okay?" Everyone laughed.

"I wonder what Mark is doing right now. He was kind of a jerk," Nate said.

"Yeah, well, I doubt he will want to be our bodyguard after this," Jason said, giving Nate a high five.

When they finally pulled up to the hotel, Connect Three's manager was waiting in the lobby. "Thank god you're all okay. You are all okay, right?" He asked with slight worry.

"Yeah, yeah," Nate said. "We're fine. Why do you ask?"

"I've been trying to call your cell phones all day!" Mr. Carlton said. "Apparently, Mark is being arrested. He steals things from the people he works for! We went through his suitcases and found some of your guys' valuables!"

"Not the least big surprised," Caitlyn laughed, and then stopped when she saw the manager glaring at her. "Good pick, by the way."

"Yeah, nice one," Shane said, jokingly patting Mr. Carlton on the shoulder.

"So do you have some room keys for us?" Jason asked.

"Yes, I do. But why on earth are you dressed like that? Really, now. That's just embarrassing. You know what? I actually don't want to know. Just be safe. Here are the room keys. Gentlemen are in suite 1047, and ladies in suite 1048." Their manager handed them the keys. "I will be in the room across from both of yours if you need anything. Which you won't since I am going to sleep. Good night."

Shane looked at the clock. It read 8:09. "Okay, everybody follow me." Shane led them out to the gigantic hotel pool, which was complete with a waterslide and waterfall. It was completely isolated. "Who gets thrown in?" He asked.

"I don't know. I think we all broke our character," Jason said.

"Yeah, especially Mitchie," Nate laughed. "I don't think it's possible for you to go that long without smiling. I do, however, think the lovely Caitlyn, even though she hates us by now, did a wonderful job of staying in character. And of not killing every guy that stared at her boobs and ass."

"I say we all jump in, together," Caitlyn suggested, ignoring Nate's comment. "From the top of the waterfall."

"Let's do it," Mitchie agreed. "No swimsuits or anything. We should just jump in like we are."

There were stairs leading to the top of the waterfall, and each person slowly made their way to the peak. Once everyone was up, Shane grabbed Mitchie's hand, who grabbed Caitlyn's hand, who grabbed Nate's hand, who grabbed Jason's hand.

"Ready?" Caitlyn asked.

"One," Jason started.

"Two," said Shane.

"Three!" Everyone shouted unanimously. They ran to the edge and jumped in, not breaking hands the entire time. Eventually, everyone surfaced again. Mitchie's wig floated off, and her dark make-up washed off until she had no make-up on. Nate's fake mustache came off in the water, as well. Everyone started splashing around, and laughing. Mitchie tried to get out once, but was immediately thrown back into the water. Nate attempted to tackle Shane, who turned it back on him.

Once everyone started to calm down a bit, they swam over to the edge of the pool and sat on it, watching the pool move.

"So this was it," Caitlyn said calmly.

"The perfect ending to the perfect day," Jason added in.

Nate laughed. "Not including the bodyguard who's getting arrested."

"Nah, that just made it even more exciting," Shane laughed.

"Back to touring, signing autographs, never being able to step three feet out of anywhere," Mitchie said.

Jason shrugged. "But you know, I wouldn't trade our life for anything. Even though it can get hard at times, it's all worth it."

"Exactly," Shane agreed. "It's always worth it. Even though it's definitely a fun change to get away from it all, and not have people constantly staring at you."

"Umm, we were dressed fairly oddly. People were still staring," Mitchie laughed. "But I know what you mean."

"Alright wet people," Nate said, laughing. "It's getting pretty late. We should go to bed. We've got a big Los Angeles concert tomorrow."

"Party killer," Caitlyn joked, and pushed him in the pool again.

"I can't believe you did that!" Nate said, offended. "Help me up?"

Caitlyn gave him her hand, and he pulled her in, too. The second part of the water war was back on. Mitchie laughed as she realized no one was going to bed at a reasonable time. But that was okay. Like they said—it was worth it.

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**Oh… my… god… that was so freaking long! Fourteen pages. Lol, I really wasn't planning on making it that long, I just had a lot of fun writing this chapter and I kept thinking of new things that would be enjoyable to write and hopefully to read. Part of why I put this in was because I wanted to show how close they all were becoming. I also wanted people to be like "Aww, yay! Look, everyone's happy!" because it won't last for long. Haha, how sad. But it's true. And no worries, this is still a Smitchie story. Even though I go on fun tangents like this, and I explore some friendships and flirting, it will still always focus on them. The next chapter, for example, is pretty much all about them and their current relationship. And of course, it has to have some drama. Everything is just getting too perfect for them.**

**By the way, thanks for the reviews, you guys. I seriously cannot explain how much your reviews mean to me. If you have comments, suggestions, or things you do or don't like, I love to hear it. I write to entertain people, so if I'm not doing that, let me know. And I'll go cry. Haha, just kidding! I just had a special moment, wow. Thanks, again!**


	10. Chapter 10

**Basically, the introduction down there makes no sense because I wrote it before I left for a wedding, hoping to put this chapter up sooner. Now, it is very late at night and I have millions of other things I need to be doing, but I am finishing this up for you because you awesome people have earned it being so patient with me. I cannot tell you how sorry I am! I really can't. See, the wedding was down in San Diego for a week, and I really did want to put up the chapter before I left or at least an author's note but I ran out of time. I am so so so so so so so sorry! I really am. Thanks for being so nice and understanding. And, while I was away, I am happy to report that we got over ten reviews for a chapter! This is the first chapter where that's ever happened!! (I should leave more often… just kidding!) Now you can read the introduction and stuff that I wrote a week ago, ha ha.**

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**Hey guys. So, oh my gosh, I am so glad you liked the last chapter so much. I thought some people would be like "Why are they at an effing zoo?" and then they'd burn down my computer and throw tomatoes. So I am so glad you guys enjoyed it, because it definitely was fun to write. And thanks for the reviews! Now, the most reviews I have ever gotten for a chapter is eight. I have gotten these eight reviews for six chapters! So we are going to break the streak this time right? We will see if we can reach ten reviews for the tenth chapter. Very fitting, huh? Thanks you guys! Enjoy the story… (P.S. Yeah, that last part was the part that doesn't make sense. I guess it would have been easier just to delete it, huh?)**

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Mitchie slowly opened her sleepy eyes. She lifted her head up to see that everyone was laying on the floor. She thought back to the previous night, when it was four o'clock in the morning, and everyone was so tired that they could not even make it to their beds, so they all crashed on the floor. Mitchie then felt a pair of arms pulling her back down to the carpet. Shane drew Mitchie into him and wrapped his arms around her. She was about to her close her eyes again when the door suddenly slammed open.

"What part of gentlemen in one room, ladies in another, don't you understand?" Mr. Carlton asked, entering the room. "Everybody up. Now. We have some serious discussion to do. And why on earth are you still in those ridiculous costumes?"

Mitchie and Shane were the first on their feet, so they slowly shook the other three awake. Soon, all five teenagers were up and sitting on the bed watching their manager pace the floor. Mr. Carlton took a deep breath and commanded, "Look at _this_." He handed them the newspaper, which had a picture of all five at the zoo.

"Nice," Shane laughed. "We made front page!"

"Oh, yeah, and in our stylish costumes," Mitchie added in, grabbing the paper from him.

"Great," Caitlyn mumbled. "My first front pager, and I look like a total whore. Just great."

Mr. Carlton's anger rose when he saw the relaxed reactions of his clients. "You all are in serious trouble. Inside the article, they claim that you're all either insane or that you don't want to see your fans so much that you'd go through all that trouble to hide from them. I don't know why I even let you go out that day. And word is starting to get out about your new bodyguard, so you'll have to address that. By the way, I have a new bodyguard lined up for you all. His name is Robert Feggans. He used to be the body guard for Britney Spears, and I've heard only the best about him."

"Okay, great, let's go meet him," Jason suggested, trying to get out of the room before their manager yelled at them more.

"Not so fast," Mr. Carlton stopped them. "To address some of these claims—you have a ten o'clock press meeting. Now, Jason, it was your birthday a month ago, was it not? We will say that you all decided to throw him a surprise costume birthday party. Any questions? No? Good. The stylists and make-up artists will be here at eight, and we will leave at 9:15. After the interview, you will be at the concert hall at three o'clock this afternoon for sound check. Then you will get ready for the concert which is at five, and after that you are free to do whatever you want. But let me warn you, the press is watching you closely. This means you will not cuss, wear anything provocative, and you will not drink, smoke, or be rebellious until the press eases up on you all a bit. Oh, another thing, you will sleep in your own rooms from now on. We don't want people thinking you are constantly having orgies or something. Do I make myself clear?"

"I prefer to call them fuck fests," Shane muttered under his breath.

"Yeah, it has a nice ring to it," Caitlyn agreed, trying not to laugh.

"I'm so glad to be touring with such mature young adults," their manager spat. "But you already lost many fans due to your past diva melt downs, Shane, so I'd watch it if I were you. You hurt your band because of your selfish behavior, which you must make up to them. Do I make myself clear?"

Mitchie, Shane, Caitlyn, Jason, and Nate all nodded. "Good. The stylists will be here soon," Carlton said, then closed the door behind him.

"Oooh, Shane got busted," Caitlyn teased. Shane just sat and stared at his feet.

"Hey, she was just kidding man," Nate offered, punching Shane playfully. "No worries. You know we've forgiven you and all that."

"We _have_ lost a lot of fans. And you know it's my fault," Shane commented quietly, still avoiding eye contact.

"Then we don't need them. Look, you've changed, everyone knows it. People have done worse things than acting like ass holes for a little while," Jason comforted.

"Yeah, sometimes they dress up in crazy costumes and get called insane," Caitlyn offered. Nate glared at her, so she added in: "Yeah, not helping. Sorry."

"Let's go shower before the stylists get here. And let's try not to look like we've only gotten three hours of sleep," Mitchie suggested, getting up.

Once they arrived at the press room, things went by fairly quickly. Thirty minutes had soon passed and Mitchie was starting to get bored. They sat in a large room filled with around fifteen reporters. The journalists from various magazines and newspapers stood talking amongst themselves quietly, while Nate, Jason, Shane, Mitchie, and Caitlyn sat at a long table with one microphone in front of each person. The members of Connect Three were all very relaxed and comfortable, while Caitlyn and Mitchie were a bit quieter and more reserved during the interview.

"So, when did you three meet Miss Torres and Miss Gellar?"

"Well," Shane began. "I was one of the counselors at Camp Rock this past summer, which is where I met Mitchie and Caitlyn. Mitchie and I became friends pretty quickly, and then I introduced her to the guys and we all realized how talented she was. Then we decided to have her open concerts for us, but she insisted that Caitlyn come too. It worked out perfectly because Caitlyn is amazing, as well. She does some of our background tracks, and she's like our mini-manager. She's a total computer whiz, so she also does like our lights and sound and all that technical stuff."

"Yeah," Jason agreed. "We're all a pretty good team." The two girls nodded, like they had been doing constantly during the interview, mostly because they were afraid to answer questions themselves. Nodding along was much easier.

The newspaper and magazine writers started to talk amongst themselves again when one said, "You all are some of the hardest working teens in Hollywood right now. How do you do keep from going insane?"

Nate smiled and explained, "Well, it definitely can be tough some times, but we always remember that we get to live our dream. Getting to be on the road, and do what we love to do every single day is just so rewarding, so even if we go a few days without sleep, it will always be worth it."

"What do you all miss most while you're touring?" A reporter asked.

"Our families," Jason answered.

Nate nodded. "And friends."

"Sleep," Shane added in, causing the room to laugh.

"This is a question for just the females," a reporter began. Mitchie started to get nervous and twiddle with her thumbs. "What is it like behind the scenes with Connect Three? What are they like on the bus? Or in hotels?"

Both girls were silent and looked at each other, when Mitchie finally said, "They are always acting like perfect gentlemen around us. It definitely is different living with guys, though."

"Definitely," Caitlyn agreed. "I mean, there are things that guys only do around each other, which is kind of strange. Like, they always are so rough with each other, and they spit and throw things. And then, suddenly, a girl walks in and the three of them just sit there, trying to look innocent."

A reporter then asked, "Is there any time for love on the road?"

Jason saw Shane shift uncomfortably, so he quickly answered, "Well, we are all pretty busy with our music. It's what we are trying to concentrate on right now. So sure, we go on dates sometimes, but as for girlfriends, it's a little difficult to keep a girl. I mean, it's hard enough to find time to even eat and sleep, much less talk to your girlfriend."

"So none of you have girlfriends?" A reporter pressed.

Shane, Nate, and Jason were silent, so Caitlyn quickly said, "Well, I don't."

As the room laughed, one reporter pulled out a newspaper article clipping about their day at the zoo. "So what was this all about?" He asked, holding it up.

"Well," Nate began, relived that the previous question was over with. "It was Jason's birthday not too long ago. So we finally had a free day, which we decided to use by throwing a costume party and wandering around the zoo."

"It was definitely the best birthday I've had," Jason commented, patting Nate on the back.

"So you admit that these people are you five in costumes?" A reporter asked, holding up a picture of them in their outfits.

"Yes," Jason sighed, hoping to move on to another question.

"It's very interesting that you all claim to be single," another reporter commented. He pulled a picture out of his jacket and held it up. Mitchie squinted to see it and immediately froze, after recognizing what was in the picture. "What do you have to say about this?" The reporter asked, holding up a picture of Shane holding Mitchie up and kissing her neck at the zoo.

"We aren't here to talk about our social life. We're here to talk about our music. Let's try to stay on topic," Nate covered for them.

Shane's anger started to rise. "And it's none of your business," he muttered into the microphone.

Mitchie did not even hear the rest of the questions asked by reporters. She simply sat there, thinking about everything. Was this what her life was going to be like from now on? People constantly prying about her personal business? She was extremely embarrassed and slightly angry, as well. Finally, the interview finished, and everyone met up in the back room.

Nate locked the door, and Shane threw his arms around Mitchie.

"So, that was an exciting interview, huh?" Caitlyn asked, trying to lighten the mood.

Mitchie tried to hold back tears. "They normally aren't that bad," Shane soothed.

"Yeah," Nate said, patting her on the back. "These things pass over in a week or so anyway. No one will remember the picture soon. I promise."

At that moment, they heard several knocks. Mitchie quickly wiped her tears away as Nate opened the door. Their manager stood there with a big African American man at his side.

Mr. Carlton stepped in and introduced the man standing behind him: "I would like you to meet Mr. Robert Feggans, your new bodyguard. The limo will be here in five minutes and will take you to the backstage hall where you will get ready for your concert."

After he left, everyone just stood there staring at the extraordinarily tall man in front of them.

"Call me Big Rob," the deep voice said.

Caitlyn finally got up the nerve to go closer to him. She stood directly in front of him; he was over a foot taller than her.

"Damn," she said, looking up at his bald head.

"You're our new body guard?" Jason asked in a rhetorical manner. "So, what are you going to do if someone psycho comes running toward us?"

Big Rob smiled. "Want me to show you? Go stand over there. Everyone else stand behind me."

Jason went to the corner and paused for a second, unsure of what he had just gotten himself into. Big Rob nodded, so Jason came running toward everyone. Jason suddenly felt himself being lifted up into the air and turned over. In an instant, he was on the ground.

"Just like that," Big Rob said, adding in: "I'll be outside."

Mitchie, Caitlyn, Shane, and Nate all ran over to Jason, who was lying on his back.

"Are you alive, man?" Shane asked. Jason just stared at the ceiling and let out a little groan.

"You've gotta love the irony. The guy getting paid to protect us just kicked Jason's ass," Caitlyn pointed out, laughing.

Everyone started to leave the room when Shane pulled Mitchie over to him. "So, you are going to meet Brian tonight. He is going to be backstage with you. I just know you two will hit it off. Brian and I used to be best friends, so I know you two will like each other. I can't wait," Shane said, pulling her into his chest.

Mitchie wrapped her arms around his neck and whispered into his ear: "Can't wait."

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**Okay, the next chapter will be up super soon, because I started writing it and realized that if I put it in with this chapter, the chapter would be wayyyyy too long. So please be patient, again. This next chapter will not take as long to put up. I promise!! I'm not planning on going out of town any time soon!**

**Oh, by the way, some people have been asking about Caitlyn, and who I am going to steer her towards. Well, you don't get to know. Maybe she will go for Jason, or Nate, or maybe she will just be a lonely, crazy cat lady who knits and sews. Isn't it more fun this way? ;D**

**Thanks again you guys! I've said how sorry I am like nine times, but I will say it again. I'm sorry! I know this chapter SO wasn't worth the week long wait, but I know the next one will be worth it. You'll like it. I promise. Thanks again for all your reviews!**


	11. Chapter 11

**This is probably the shortest intro I have ever written. Oh well. Basically, I just wanted to say thanks for the reviews!! Haha, ok, now go read the story.**

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"Thank you Los Angeles! Have a great night!" Shane yelled into the microphone as everyone grabbed hands and took a final bow. They all raced around the stage touching their fans' hands and waving goodbye. Finally, everyone ran off stage, leaving only the members of Connect Three. They then gave their last bow and stepped onto a lowering platform.

Backstage, everyone was jumping around and celebrating. The screams of teenage girls could be heard even through the dressing room walls.

"That was such an amazing concert!" Nate yelled, practically bouncing off the walls.

"And crowd!" Jason added in, throwing himself on the couch from exhaustion.

Mitchie smiled at her boyfriend, and wiped some of his sweat away. His hair was slightly curly because it was so wet, which she found incredibly sexy.

"How can you possibly still have energy?" Mitchie asked Shane.

Shane just laughed, then leaned down and kissed her neck. "So did you talk with Brian at all?"

Mitchie stopped playing with Shane's hair. All she knew was that Brian was the quiet, blonde kid in the corner. He was very tall and very good-looking. However, either he was very shy or very anti-social. He gave off the I-don't-care-about-anything vibe, so Mitchie hadn't really approached him all night, except for a few polite "hello"s.

"Umm, yeah, we talked a little. He seems nice," Mitchie lied.

"Yeah, he's a cool guy. I'm going to go talk with him for a bit, since he seems a little left out," Shane said, letting go of Mitchie and meeting his friend in the corner.

Mitchie sat down on the couch between Nate and Jason. "So what do you two know about that guy?" she asked.

Both Nate and Jason looked away. "What is it?" Mitchie pressed.

Jason looked back at Mitchie trying to form words. "He's just a little…"

"We don't trust him," Nate said flatly.

"I don't know why Shane is even friends with him. All Brian does is drink and party. He's even been to rehab before," Jason added.

Mitchie glanced back at Shane and Brian, who were talking and laughing in the corner.

"I don't think he likes me too much," Mitchie commented. "He kept giving me these strange glares all night."

"He doesn't like anyone," Nate shrugged. "Don't take it personally. But I am glad that we're leaving tomorrow. Then we won't have to see that guy again until our next tour."

"Yeah, but Shane and Brian will probably go out tonight," Jason pointed out.

Suddenly, three older teenage girls walked in the room. Brian greeted all three by kissing them and putting his hands all over them. They all wore slinky outfits and way too much make-up.

Shane then walked over to Mitchie. "Hey, babe, Brian and I are going to this club tonight. It's just gonna be a guy thing, you know? Just us catching up together. You don't mind right? It's eighteen and older, anyway. So I am going to take a quick shower in the back room, but maybe you could get to know Brian a little in the meantime."

Mitchie nodded. "Sounds good. I will try." After Shane kissed her and left, Mitchie looked over at Jason and Nate who were avoiding making eye contact with her again.

"Okay, what do I need to know?" Mitchie asked them.

"Just… I don't know. These 'clubs' that they go to… if I were you, I'd see if I could go too," Jason said, his voice drifting off.

"I don't want to intrude on their alone time," Mitchie said.

"Yeah, well, I don't think those three 'girls' over there care about intruding," Nate pointed out.

"I'm sure I wouldn't like it," Mitchie insisted. "Shane was just trying to be nice and considerate of how tired I am." She only half-believed it herself, so instead of debating with Jason and Nate, Mitchie walked over to Brian.

"Hi," Mitchie said, giving Brian a big smile.

"Uhh… hey," Brian replied, not really looking at Mitchie.

"So you and Shane have been good friends for a while, huh?" Mitchie asked, trying to think up small talk.

"I guess."

"So you have a bunch of really embarrassing stories of him then, right?" Mitchie asked, attempting to make Brian at least smile.

"Um, no."

Mitchie sighed. She was running out of topics. "So I hear you're going to a club tonight."

This topic caught Brian's attention. "Shane didn't tell you that you could come, did he?" He asked suddenly.

"Oh, um, no. I'm not coming," Mitchie stammered, trying to figure out why Brian was so obvious about not wanting her with them.

"Good. You wouldn't like it." Brian sighed, going back to looking around the room and ignoring Mitchie's gaze.

"I might," Mitchie retorted, slightly offended.

"You wouldn't. They will like it," Brian said, pointing to the three girls. "You wouldn't."

Mitchie could not believe that Shane would really be friends with such an ass. "Why not?"

Brian laughed. "Because people do 'naughty' things in clubs." He said the word 'naughty' like he was making fun of Mitchie. "People actually dance next to each other, not a foot away. They drink. The girls wear" he gasped "low cut shirts."

Mitchie jaw dropped. Did Brian act like this around Shane?

"Oh, don't look so shocked, cupcake. I bet you've never worn anything low cut in your life, huh?" Brian teased.

Mitchie couldn't form words. "I…"

"Yeah, didn't think so. Look, do something fun tonight. Like reading and then being in bed by nine o'clock. Or be a little crazy; go to bed at ten," Brian mocked, and then joined the three slutty looking girls.

Mitchie just stood there, shocked. Did Shane's supposed 'best friend' just make fun of her and call her basically a goody-goody? He didn't even know her! How could he assume that she was that innocent? And she did too wear low cut shirts! She just wore one last… no, that didn't count. Oh, what about… no. Oh, two months ago, she wore a wife beater that hugged her hips. Who cares if she wore a sweatshirt over it? It still counted! Right?

All Mitchie could do was stand there in the middle of a loud room realizing that she really was too innocent. She was sure that every girl that Shane had been with was sexy and gorgeous. Why was he even with her still?

Her thoughts were interrupted by one of the girls tapping her on the shoulder.

"Hey," the girl said. "I'm Courtney. You're Shane's girl, right?"

Mitchie was pleased that at least one person was being nice to her. "Yeah, I'm Mitchie."

The girl smiled. Mitchie thought she would be even prettier without all that make-up on her face. "So, listen, a car is going to take us back to my place to get ready for the club. It's this great new club downtown, and I totally have an I.D. that looks almost exactly like you, so the age wouldn't be a problem. Do you want to come?"

Mitchie considered her options. Reading… sleeping… taking a nice long bubble bath… these all sounded very appealing. But then again, she did not want to give Brian the pleasure of being right about how unexciting her life was.

"Okay, sounds good. Thanks," Mitchie said.

"Great, well the car is here so as soon as we're ready we can go meet the guys at the club," Courtney explained. Mitchie followed her out to the car after waving goodbye to Nate and Jason, who looked fairly skeptical.

Back at Courtney's apartment, Mitchie watched all the girls get ready. More girls joined them, so there were now about six girls in the room applying even more make-up and changing into even more provocative outfits.

Another girl, who was all ready, walked over to Mitchie and said, "You aren't wearing that are you?"

Mitchie looked down at her outfit. She was wearing jeans, boots, and a long sleeve T-shirt. "Well," Mitchie shrugged. "I don't have anything else. I don't even know what someone would wear to a club."

"Uh oh. We've got a clubbing virgin over here!" the girl called out to the room. A few of the other girls cheered.

Courtney sat down next to Mitchie. "Do you want us to take care of your look? You'll make Shane go crazy when we're done with you. We know what kind of clothes he goes for too, since we've been clubbing with Shane and Brian so many times."

Mitchie was slightly afraid of what they were going to do to her, but she decided in the end just to suck it up. Seeing Shane's reaction would be worth it. "Okay," Mitchie agreed. "Anything you want. I trust you."

A few of the girls laughed. "Come on ladies; let's show Shane why he's the luckiest guy on the face of the earth."

Back at the club, Brian was dancing with and feeling up two girls at once, a talent which Shane always admired. Shane hadn't been doing a whole lot of dancing yet. Soon, a very drunk Brian walked over to him and sat down.

"What's up dude? You're never this lame usually. Come dance," Brian slurred.

Shane laughed at his friend. "Yeah, okay."

Brian and Shane made their way to the dance floor. That was something that Shane liked about these clubs—no one knew or cared who he was, so he didn't constantly have to take pictures or sign autographs. A girl came up between Shane and Brian, so Brian put a hand on her hip and teased her skirt with the other. Another girl came up to Shane and started running her hands along his chest. Luckily, the girl was so drunk that she didn't even notice when Shane lifted her hands up and put them on Brian instead.

"What's with you man? You're so lame tonight!" Brian taunted.

"I just feel, like, guilty or something. I feel bad since Mitchie isn't here," Shane sighed.

"Ahh, the angels have arrived," Brian called out as a group of girls walked in, one of them being Courtney. She walked up to Brian and started to dance very close with him. At that moment, another drunken girl walked up and put her hands on Shane's thighs.

Shane took in deep breath in and removed the girl's hands. He would feel extremely guilty if he let these girls feel him up, like he used to let them do at clubs.

"Come on, man, you're killing the mood. Your chick won't mind," Brian insisted.

Another girl came up behind Shane and ran her hands from his shoulders to his hips. "Yeah, she won't mind," a sexy voice cooed. Shane reluctantly removed her hands as well, and turned to face the girl.

Shane was shocked to see his girlfriend standing behind him. "Mitc—" He stopped when he saw what she was wearing. Mitchie looked sexy from top to bottom. She wore tall, black heels and a black mini-skirt. Mitchie also wore a red top which pushed her breasts up and exposed some of her midriff. It had an open back, and Mitchie wore her hair curly and brushed to the side.

A new song suddenly came on, and Mitchie decided that Shane had looked her over long enough. She turned her back to him and started to slowly shake her hips. Shane closed the space between them and swayed his hips along with hers until they got into a rhythm. Mitchie had one hand running through Shane's hair and the other running up and down his thigh. However, he was acting too conservatively for the moment, so she instead guided his hands along her body. She slid his hands down to her bare stomach. Shane pulled her in even closer, and Mitchie could smell his sweat and feel his body heat. Their rhythm matched the music's rhythm as they bounced back and fourth.

Mitchie then decided to try a dance move that Courtney had attempted to show her. She slowly slid down Shane and slid back up, now facing him. Shane looked hypnotized by her, and she liked having that sort of power over him.

A while later, everyone decided to take a break from dancing. Their group sat down on bean bag type chairs as Courtney brought back a round of shots for everyone. "They don't care about age here," Courtney explained to Mitchie, addressing the confused look on her face. "It's pretty sweet, huh?"

Since Mitchie had a habit tonight of doing things she normally wouldn't, she reached for a shot glass. However, as she was about to put it to her mouth, Shane's hand stopped her. He took the glass from her and set it on the table.

"No," he commanded.

Mitchie laughed. "What do you mean 'no'?"

"You've never had a drink before, right?" Shane asked.

Mitchie shook her head.

"Then no. This is too strong for you. In fact, I don't want you drinking at all," Shane scolded.

"I'll drink if I want to drink," Mitchie said, moving closer to Shane, then getting onto his lap.

"You wouldn't like to drink anyway. You're too innocent," Shane teased, running his hands up her sides.

"I am not innocent!" Mitchie insisted.

Shane just laughed. "Yes you are. But there's nothing wrong with that. It's what I like about you."

Mitchie gave a huff of breath. What was that supposed to mean? Courtney had told her about Shane's past girlfriends. They all were sexy, experienced, and well, whores from the description of them. Why didn't Shane let her be like that, too?

Shane saw Mitchie deep in thought so he suggested, "Hey, do you want to go for a walk or something?"

She nodded. Shane took her small hand and the two walked out the door. Mitchie was immediately hit with a gush of freezing cold air, so she crossed her arms and started to slightly shiver. Shane, who noticed her reaction to the cold, slid his jacket off and put it around her cold body.

"Thanks," Mitchie said, and gave him a kiss. "So what's up?"

They started walking down the street hand in hand, Shane rubbing his thumb back and forth on her hand. "I just… I guess I was getting sick of that place. Too stuffy," Shane lied.

Mitchie smiled. "Oh, really? Hey, look, there's a little park over there. Let's go check it out."

The two walked over to the small grassy park, at which point Mitchie sat down on the bench and took off her annoyingly uncomfortable high heels.

"Ah, much better," she moaned, rubbing her feet.

Shane sat down next to her and began to rub her sore ankles. "So why wear them?"

Mitchie was about to speak and then stopped herself. How could she explain it? _You're best friend is an ass hole who thinks that you're too good for me because you only like sexy and slutty girls, and then I started to realize he's right so I became one. _Instead Mitchie explained, "I guess I wanted to."

"But why?" he asked.

Mitchie shrugged. "I don't know. Didn't you like how I looked tonight?"

"Well, yeah, but—"

Mitchie cut him off. "Then there you go. I did it because you like this sort of thing. I'd make my feet suffer for you any time."

Shane laughed and then kissed the foot he was rubbing. He then moved closer to Mitchie and lifted her onto his lap.

"Mitchie, I don't want you to. I think you're perfect the way you are," Shane said, kissing her cheek.

Mitchie sighed in disbelief.

"What?" Shane asked.

"I know what kind of girls you're into, Shane. People told me. I get it. And I don't mind being one of those girls, if it makes you happy. I would do anything for you."

Shane pushed Mitchie's hair out of her face. "Then do this for me: keep being yourself. In case you haven't noticed, I love you the way you are."

Mitchie looked Shane in the eyes. "You… you… lo… you love me?"

Shane laughed and wrapped his arms around her. "Yes, I love you."

Mitchie was speechless. "Why? Er, I don't mean why. But why?"

Shane, though a bit confused by her reaction, explained, "Because, you are the perfect girl for me. You're just perfect all around. I love everything about you. I love the time we spend together, and I can never stop thinking about you."

Mitchie turned away. "How many girls have you told that to?" Okay, when the cutest guy she'd ever met in her entire life had told her that he loved her, she did not expect to answer like that. Why was she such a moron?

"I…" Shane was stunned. "Mitchie…"

"How many?" she pressed.

"I don't know. But it didn't mean anything. I've changed. You know I have. You are the only girl I love and the only girl I want to ever love," Shane insisted.

Mitchie got off Shane's lap. What was she doing? "I… I have to go," she stammered. She quickly grabbed her shoes and ran back to the busy street. A taxi cab was parked nearby, so she ran and got in. Shane ran after her, and just saw the cab drive away. It was too late. He then walked back to the bench solemnly and put his head in his hands.

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**Sorry, that was kind of long. But I hoped you guys liked it. And, again, I am so sorry about the long wait for the last chapter. Thanks you guys, and please review!!**


	12. Chapter 12

**Awww, you guys make me happy. I love reading your reviews! And I am really really really really sorry about taking longer for updates. I'm such a friggin loser. But, think of it this way: some people take like a month per chapter, and I am aiming for about a chapter per week. I am sorry, really truly! I feel so guilty! But school is starting up soon, and work has been crazy and so please understand that I want to write I just have other lame things I am forced to do. :(**

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It was almost one in the afternoon when Shane finally woke up. When he had gotten back onto the bus the previous night, he found that everyone was already asleep, including Mitchie. Shane yawned and sat up in his bed attempting to figure out how to approach the situation. He was slightly angry at Mitchie for just running away, but he couldn't exactly blame her. Yes, he could. He told her he loved her. No, he couldn't she was right. Yes, he—

What was he doing? On top of everything else, Shane did not need little fighting voices in his head. He quickly pulled off his covers and hoped out of his bunk. When he walked into the lounge where the kitchen was, everyone was already eating.

"Hey, dude, you're up late," Nate commented. "We're all almost done with breakfast already. We had pancakes."

"Yeah, Nate made them," Caitlyn attempted to say with three pancakes shoved in her mouth at once.

Shane was taken aback. "I didn't know you could cook." Nate shot a death glare at Caitlyn.

"Yeah, he wears a little baker's hat and everything," Caitlyn teased.

"You officially are never getting any of Nate's Super Special Awesome Pancakes ever again, Cay," Nate grumbled, crossing his arms.

Caitlyn let go of the fork and knife she was holding. As they crashed on the table, she dropped her jaw, even though it was half full of food. "That's not funny."

"Who is being funny? I was serious. Betcha won't tease the cook anymore, huh?" Nate asked, triumphantly.

In a minute Caitlyn was down on her knees. "Please! Don't take away the pancakes. Don't take away my one true love; they're the reason I get up in the morning. I have something to live for because of them," Caitlyn jokingly pleaded.

Because Caitlyn and Nate were distracted, and Jason was laughing at the two of them, no one else in the room noticed that Shane and Mitchie were awkwardly trying to avoid eye contact. They would each sneak a peek at the other and then tear their eyes away again. Thank goodness for oblivious friends.

Shane sat down across from Mitchie and next to Nate, stealing his last pancake right off his plate.

"Hey!" Nate shouted.

"What? I'm hungry!" Shane pathetically defended, shoving the pancake in his mouth before Nate could grab it.

Nate moaned. "See if I make you guys pancakes ever again."

"So Carlton said as soon as we get to the theater, we will go straight to warm ups and sound checks," Jason said, trying to change the subject.

Nate finally noticed the two silent teenagers who were attempting to avoid eye contact. "What's up with you two?" he asked. Both Shane and Mitchie froze.

"Us two?" Mitchie asked meekly.

"Nothing. Nothing's up. Not with us. Or us tow. I mean two. I mean… I'm going to go get ready," Shane muttered, quickly getting up from the table.

When he left, Jason asked Mitchie: "What was that all about?"

"Nothing," she grumbled, staring at her plate.

"Oh, come on. Did something happen at the club last night?" Nate asked.

"It's no use," Caitlyn huffed. "She won't even tell me. I tried. Last night."

Mitchie felt a sting of guilt running through her stomach. "Look, if there was something to tell, I'd tell. But nothing is going on."

Caitlyn snickered at her. "Clearly."

For the rest of the day, everyone just went on pretending that nothing was wrong. Mitchie and Shane were too stubborn to talk about anything, which made the concert particularly awkward at first. Finally, Mitchie was backstage with Caitlyn, right before her song with Shane; they were going to perform "This is Me" together.

Mitchie started to hyperventilate. "Breath," Caitlyn commanded. "Relax, everything will be okay."

"I can't do this with him, Caitlyn. I just can't," Mitchie cried.

"Okay, you have to tell me what went on. I've respected your privacy long enough," Caitlyn demanded.

Mitchie took a deep breath in. "He told me that he loved me," she whispered inaudibly.

"What did you say?" Caitlyn asked. "Talk louder."

"He said he loved me," Mitchie admitted, looking up at Caitlyn. "And I was a total bitch. I just panicked. I did not see it coming at all."

"Woah," Caitlyn said, sitting herself down next to Mitchie. "What did you say?"

"Nothing," Mitchie grunted, shaking her head. "No, wait, I asked him about previous girlfriends. Oh my god, I am such a moron."

Caitlyn tucked Mitchie's hair behind her ear. "Well, I hate to ask the obvious question here, but do you love him?"

Mitchie was silent. Did she love Shane Gray?

"Mitchie, you're on," a tech person called. The music started and Mitchie quickly ran to the top of the stairs, and entered on stage.

"I've always been the kind of girl that hid my face…" Mitchie began to sing. The theater was packed tonight. Luckily, she didn't feel nervous while performing anymore. She also—wait, what was she doing? _Concentrate on singing_, Mitchie told herself, even though she knew this song backwards and forwards.

"This is real, this is me," Mitchie sang. Singing always had this sort of hypnotizing way of relaxing her.

As Mitchie neared her last line before Shane came on, she began to get nervous again. Here it came: "This is meeeeeeeeeee…"

And there he was, walking down the steps toward her. All Mitchie could do was stare at his perfection: his hair, his smile, his eyes. "You're the voice I hear inside my head, the reason that I'm singing…"

Mitchie just kept on staring, even though Shane was avoiding her eye contact again. Mitchie's brain started to freeze. What were her stage directions? Something about holding Shane's hand, or crossing in front of him, or something with her arm, right? _Oh crap._

Even though Mitchie stood like an idiot, she could at least remember to sing along with Shane. The backup dancers then came on behind them. _Why am I still just standing here? _Mitchie asked herself. Shane was singing out to the audience while Mitchie was still frozen in one position. Suddenly, a backup dancer bumped her and in a second she was on the floor.

Mitchie wanted more than anything to just run off the stage. Instead, a hand was extended to her. She looked up to see Shane singing to her. He slowly helped Mitchie up and the two sang, "This is real, this is me…"

The blocking slowly started to come back to Mitchie. Shane twirled her out, and she followed, remembering all of the choreography. She spun back under Shane's arm and twirled behind him. Shane caught her hand and the two walked to the edge of the stage, still singing.

Finally, the song ended, and Shane pulled Mitchie into an embrace for the last note.

When the concert was over, as everyone celebrated backstage, Mitchie started banging her head against a wall. Over and over and over and over again. She wasn't sure what the point of it was, really, but she couldn't face everyone after making herself look like an idiot in front of so many people.

Mitchie suddenly felt a tap on the shoulder.

"Not done," Mitchie groaned, and continued to hit her head against the wall. However, she felt Nate's hands pull her away.

"Hey, it wasn't so bad," Nate offered.

"It was horrible. I just stood there for half the song and then fell down. I was such an idiot, I don't know what I was thinking," Mitchie moaned.

Nate pulled her into a hug. "Hey, don't sweat it. Once you remembered everything again, it all went well. Trust me, no one will think twice about it."

From across the room, Shane saw his girlfriend, or ex-girlfriend, or whatever she was hugging his best friend. He knew that the embrace meant nothing, but Shane would have given anything to be the one comforting her at that moment. He decided he couldn't take it anymore and walked out, with the entire room soon following, until just Nate and Mitchie were left.

Nate let go of Mitchie and asked, "So what is going on with you and Shane?"

Mitchie felt tears coming. "Do I really have to enlighten everyone all over again?"

Nate nodded, so Mitchie explained, "Fine. Shane said he loved me and I responded by bringing up other times he said it or something. I don't know, I was just an idiot. I seem to be doing that a lot lately."

"Dang," Nate laughed. "Look, Shane is serious about you, Mitch. But do you love him? Because it kind of seems like you do."

"How I am even supposed to know what love is?" Mitchie asked fiercely. "I am only seventeen. But, god, I miss him. I miss not being able to talk to him about everything, or even touch him."

"It sure sounds like love," Nate observed.

"Remember tonight? When I fell on my butt, and instead of leaving me there to be embarrassed in front of everyone, Shane came and helped me? It was like… weird. At that moment, I was just thinking about how I could never live without him."

"Then you need to tell him Mitchie," Nate said. "Of all the times you messed up in the last few days, that one was definitely the worst."

Mitchie nodded, reluctantly realizing that Nate was right. "I think I have an idea of how I can make things better. Can you help me?"

* * *

Shane was in his bunk reading. He did not particularly enjoy reading, but it was much better than sharing an awkward dinner with his friends and ex-gir… with Mitchie. Suddenly, there was a knock outside his bed. He rolled back the curtain to see a brown package. He curiously took the package and tore it open, which revealed a DVD case.

Shane smiled as he read the title of the DVD: "Titanic". He opened the case to find a note in the place of a disc, which read:

**Dear Shane,**

**Okay, I know how corny letters are, but you have probably noticed that I am a whimp who cannot face her feelings, much less the people she loves. Yes, this would include you. I said it. And I know it, even if I was an idiot before. I love you Shane Gray. I don't think I will ever stop loving you. Now, I know how much you love the Titanic, so the only way you will get this DVD is if you meet me in the front lounge at precisely eight o'clock, where you will sit and hear my profound apologies and detailed explanations for my idiocy.**

**Love forever and always, Mitchie**

Shane reread the letter several times. She loved him. He quickly got out of bed and ran to the front room in the bus. When he arrived, Shane saw a beautifully set table complete with china and candles. The room was set up to look like the dining room in the Titanic.

Shane's attention quickly moved focus to the beautiful woman just entering the room. Mitchie was dressed like Rose from the movie. She wore the beaded champagne colored dress, white gloves, and pulled back her hair into a curly bun.

Mitchie made her way to where Shane was standing, smiling coyly at him.

"You look amazing," Shane breathed. Mitchie put her hand on his cheek and kissed him with deep passion.

When she pulled away, she looked him in the eyes and proclaimed, "I love you. I love you more than anything on this earth. I would do anything for you. It's just… when you said you loved me. It was strange, I guess. I didn't know how you could know, mostly because I didn't know if I loved you or not. But I do. There's no doubt in my mind that I love everything about yo—"

Shane cut her off by kissing her. "I love everything about you too, but stop talking already and kiss me."

The two proceeded to kiss for a very long time, until Mitchie pulled away again, out of breath. She pointed to the cabinets, saying, "Dinner time. We can continue this later." She kissed him one more time and took out a few food items from the pantry.

"Crackers, water bottles, fruit roll ups, canned peaches, and stale bread," Shane listed, looking down at the assortment of food. "Very romantic."

Mitchie laughed and put her arms around him. "Glad you like it."

"So just to be clear, we are back together, right?" Shane asked.

Mitchie giggled. "I didn't know we were ever apart."

Shane raised an eyebrow and kissed her. As Mitchie worked her way down his neck, Shane began to whisper in her ear: "God, I lo—" until his voice trailed off.

"What's up?" Mitchie asked, pulling away from Shane.

Shane blushed. "I guess, I'm like afraid to say it or something. Like I'm afraid you'll run away again. I'm sorry."

Mitchie put her hands on Shane's neck. "Take your time. Meanwhile, I will tell you it all I want. I… love… you…" she said, kissing him after each word.

* * *

Jason yawned and opened his eyes. He turned on his side to look at the time which read three o'clock in the morning. After failing at his attempts to get back to sleep, Jason pulled off his covers and slipped out of bed. He then made his way to the front lounge, deciding to get a late night snack. Opening the refrigerator, Jason took out a carton of chocolate chip cookie dough ice cream. Finally, he opened the cupboard and grabbed a big bag of Doritos.

Jason jumped as a voice behind him suddenly asked, "You are not seriously going to eat those together, are you?"

Jason whipped around to see Caitlyn sitting in the dark. "Don't… scare… me… like… that..." he managed, trying to catch his breath.

Caitlyn laughed. "Sorry."

"How long have you been sitting there?" Jason asked, picking up the bag of chips he dropped.

Caitlyn shrugged. "I don't know. An hour maybe. I couldn't sleep."

"Yeah," Jason agreed, walking over to her. "Me neither."

Caitlyn then shifted her focus to the ice cream and Doritos that Jason was holding. "So you aren't really going to eat those together, right?"

"It's amazing. Doritos and chocolate chip cookie dough ice cream are an amazing combination. You have to try it," Jason insisted, opening the ice cream.

"I'd rather lick the floor of the bathroom," Caitlyn joked. "That looks disgusting!"

Jason pouted. "Please, at least try it."

Caitlyn let out a huff of breath and finally agreed: "Fine, I'll try it. But if I throw up, I will do so on you."

Jason scooped ice cream up with a Dorito and said, "Fair enough. Now open up."

Caitlyn closed her eyes and reluctantly opened her mouth. She felt a chip being put in it with a cold feeling on top. Jason eyed her very carefully to see her reaction. Caitlyn suddenly put her hands over her mouth and started to gag.

"Cay, are you okay?" Jason asked urgently, shaking her gently.

Caitlyn swallowed and smiled. "That was surprisingly good. Hand me the bag."

Jason dropped his jaw. "Don't do that to me!"

Caitlyn laughed. "Sorry, it was too easy."

After taking a few more bites, she yawned loudly.

"Are you tired?" Jason asked tenderly.

Caitlyn shook her head. "No, of course not," she swore, trying to shake her head awake.

"We can go back to bed if you want," Jason offered.

"No," Caitlyn said, firmly.

"Really, it's okay. We both need our sleep, anyway."

"No," she repeated. "Don't you like staying here and talking with me? I like talking with you."

Jason was worried that he offended her. "No, no. Of course. I love when we talk. We understand each other so well."

"I know, right?" Caitlyn agreed. "It's like, I love Mitchie to death and all, but sometimes it's just so hard. She is always the beautiful, talented, amazing girl that guys go crazy for. And I'm always just in the background.

"I completely understand what you mean," Jason said, moving closer to Caitlyn. "I mean, everyone either loves Shane or Nate. It's like, okay, I know I'm the ugliest guy in the band, but do I always have to be reminded of it?"

"You're not ugly," Caitlyn maintained. "Quite the opposite, in fact. And, if it makes any difference, you will always be my favorite member of the band."

Jason smiled sensitively at her. "Well, if it makes any difference, I think you're much prettier than Mitchie. She's so obviously beautiful. You're beauty is the true kind. The kind where you have to look deeper for. It's clearly there, and always will be, even if it's isn't as glaringly obvious to some people."

Jason's heart rose when Caitlyn said, "I don't know what I'd do without you Jason. I really don't." However, all the good feelings he had were quickly vanished when she added in: "You're like my big brother or something."

Caitlyn turned around and rested her head on his lap. Jason stroked her hair and she fell asleep. You're like my big brother. Ouch.

* * *

**Meh, see this is why I am so mad about my updating. I write about a page a night and then fall asleep. So even though I have the idea, I don't have time to get it out. This is lame, I need to go pout. I am so sorry; I know it's so annoying when authors stop updating as much. I'm sorry! Words cannot express how much! I'll try harder. I love you guys always! Thanks for reviewing!**


	13. Chapter 13

**You guys are so awesome!! Okay, I need to stop saying that every chapter since I'm starting to sound like a cheerleader, but it's true. You guys just make me sooooo happy! And since you guys reviewed so quickly, I tried to get this chapter up quicker than I have been lately to reward all of you. Except I tried to get it up so quickly that I didn't proof it, so sorry if there are some mistakes. :P**

* * *

"Love of mine, someday you will die, but I'll be close behind. I'll follow you into the dark…" Caitlyn listened to the song on her iPod as the tour bus glided down the freeway, as she stared out the rain soaked window. The weather reflected everyone's mood on the bus that day. It was finally the end of the tour, and they were all going home. Who knew when they would get to see each other again? Everyone had become so close, and Caitlyn couldn't imagine not being able to see everyone each day.

The bus pulled to a stop at an empty bathroom rest stop since the plumbing on the bus currently was annoyingly was out-of-order.

"This is your last chance to go to the bathroom before we reach home, so you all better go," Mr. Carlton announced, not even looking up from his laptop.

Nate, Jason, Shane, Caitlyn, and Mitchie all stood by the open door, looking out at the pouring rain.

"Maybe I can wait until we get home," Mitchie suggested, crossing her arms to warm herself.

"Um, not me. I'll think I'll suck it up," Nate said stepping out into the rain. After only a few seconds, he was completely drenched. He stood in the middle of the parking lot in front of the door and yelled through clenched teeth: "See, it's just a little drizzle. Nothing big."

Caitlyn laughed and proposed, "Okay, on three we run to the bathrooms, okay? One, two, three!"

Everyone quickly ran to the bathrooms, the rain completely soaking each one of them. The second Mitchie and Caitlyn reached the bathroom and walked in, they immediately plugged there noises.

"Ewww!" Mitchie squealed. "There is something sticky on the floor here. I so don't want to know what it is."

The girls quickly finished up and ran out of the bathroom again, meeting the guys, who seemed equally disgusted with the bathrooms.

As the rain poured harder, Jason asked, "Why are we are still standing out here? It's freezing."

The teenagers began to run back to the bus when Caitlyn slipped on the grass and fell on her face in the mud. When everyone went back to help her, they found her laughing.

"Cay, you're completely covered in mud!" Nate laughed. "You look like Sasquatch."

Caitlyn glared and threw a handful of mud at Nate which hit him right in the face. Nate retorted by picking up a handful of mud himself. When he threw it, Caitlyn moved out of the way, so it hit Jason in the stomach. The boys' eyes lit up when they were about to get into a mud fight.

"No," Mitchie commanded firmly. "No. No. No. This is a new shirt. We are not having a mu—" her words were cut off by Shane tackling her into a big pool of mud.

"Shane, I swear to god, you are going to get it," Mitchie yelled, picking up a fistful of mud and smashing it into his hair.

Shane dropped his jaw. "The hair? Now that's just cruel."

Ten minutes later, everyone made their way back onto the bus, hoping to sneak past Mr. Carlton; it did not work.

"Wait," he stopped them. "What is this?"

Everyone looked at each other until Caitlyn finally explained, "The bathrooms were really dirty." They all eagerly agreed and ran to the back lounge before Carlton could say anything else.

Nate threw himself onto the couch and asked, "Okay, who is first in the shower?"

Big Rob, who was already in the room laughed at them. "No plumbing, remember?"

Mitchie's eyes widened as she realized that they were all going to have to stay in their muddy clothes until they got back home in over four hours.

* * *

Mitchie stood with her bags outside her home. After saying a teary goodbye to everyone, she was dropped off in front of her house in the pouring rain. It was getting to be pretty late in the evening, but Mitchie rather would have stood in the rain all night instead of entering her house. She knew it would be hell considering the fact that she had barely spoken with her mother at all during the tour.

Finally, Mitchie got up the courage to step up to the door and ring the doorbell. Mitchie's mom answered, and looked slightly surprised to see her soaking wet daughter standing there. After exchanging an awkward hug with her mother, Mitchie entered and set her bags down.

"So, um, where's dad?" Mitchie asked, avoiding eye contact with her mother.

"Er, your dad is out. Away. On Business," her mother stuttered. After about a minute of silence, Connie muttered, "So thanks for all those cards and letters."

Mitchie's face turned red. So this was how it was going to be with them. "Look, I'm sorry. I was busy with the tour and all."

"And you were so busy that you couldn't take two seconds to give me a call? Did you get to sleep, too? Or eat? Do I need to talk with your manager?"

Mitchie groaned. "Mom, come on. I said I'm sorry. When we go on our next tour, I'll make sure I keep in touch much more, okay?"

"Next tour?" Connie asked, completely shocked. "What is this about a next tour?"

Mitchie regretted saying anything at all. "Well, they are planning another one, and I promise I will talk to you more while I'm on it. I'll keep you updated a lot more, okay?"

"Young lady, you have been away from home for long enough. You are not leaving to go on another tour," Connie stated.

The anger in Mitchie rose. "Yes, I am. I don't need your permission to do it, either."

"It's that boyfriend of yours, isn't it? The one who you've never formally introduced me to? The one you insist on keeping me from? Is he why you have such an attitude all the time towards me? I've heard what they used to say about him and his attitude on the news. Obviously it has rubbed off on you," Connie chastised.

Mitchie was trying very hard not to start screaming. "No, he does not act like that! You don't know anything about me or him, so stop pretending like you do!"

"You know what? You are banned from going on that tour, Mitchie Torres," Connie punished. "You will instead take that time to think about why you are acting so snotty towards everyone. You are grounded until I say otherwise. Now go to your room."

As her eyes filled with tears, Mitchie yelled, "I hate you! I hate everything about you! You'll be sorry!" She quickly ran up the stairs and slammed the door, shaking the entire house.

Up in her room, Mitchie paced the floor. She refused to let her jerk of a mother rule her life. Mitchie had to take control. She had to get out of this stuffy house immediately. After locking her door, Mitchie opened the window and climbed out. Thank god her house was only one story.

Once Mitchie was outside, it seemed like the rain just poured down on her even harder than it had all day. She needed to see Shane desperately, and the hotel he was staying at was only about thirty minutes away if she ran.

Mitchie quickly made her way down the dark streets. Her mind was fuzzy, and she couldn't think clearly. All she could concentrate on was getting away from her mom, and gaining control back over her life.

Finally, Mitchie entered the five star hotel completely out of breath. Luckily, she remembered the room number that Shane was in, and ran down the halls to it. Reaching room 1108, she knocked eagerly on the door until Shane answered in his striped pajama bottoms and black shirt.

Shane rubbed his eyes and said, "Hey, babe, what are you doing he—"

He was cut off by Mitchie's lips on his. She wrapped her legs around him and aggressively kissed him. Shane, though a bit confused, returned the passion, deciding not to question it. Mitchie got down and dragged Shane toward the bed. She laid herself down on it, waiting for Shane to join her.

Instead, Shane just stared, trying to figure out what was going on. "Mitch, what are you doing?"

Mitchie breathed heavily. "I thought it was obvious." She then pulled her sweatshirt over her head and motioned for Shane to come lay next to her. Shane reluctantly obeyed and soon couldn't resist kissing Mitchie again. Mitchie sat herself on top of him and started to make a trail of kiss leading down his neck.

Shane pulled away again. This wasn't right. What was with Mitchie tonight? "We need to stop this. I won't be able to control myself soon."

Mitchie nodded and whispered, "Good, I want to do this. Right now."

Shane sat up, gaining some self control back, and pushed Mitchie off him. "No, you don't. You want to wait until marriage. I know you, because you always have. So you need to tell me why you suddenly want to throw everything you believe in away."

Mitchie sighed. "I just do, okay? It doesn't matter."

"Mitchie, even if we do have sex before marriage, do you really want it to be like this? We haven't even been seeing each other for very long, and obviously you're upset about something, so will you please just tell me what?"

Tears started to sting Mitchie's eyes. "My mom wants to break us up. She won't let me go on tour with you, or date you, see you, or even talk to you. I can't have that; I need to be with you. She controls my entire life, but she can't control my feelings for you or what I do with you. Including sex," she choked out, tears streaming down her face.

Shane wiped away her tears with his thumb. "Mitchie, I'd love nothing more than to do this and just take advantage of you when you're like this. But I love you enough to know that you're not ready. You're just upset, and you don't actually want to do this. I know you'll regret this later. You've always wanted to wait. Don't let this ruin your life, Mitchie."

Mitchie buried herself in Shane's chest, and he wrapped his arms around her body, rubbing her back. "You're right," she sobbed. "I'm sorry. God, why am I such an idiot?"

"You're not," Shane soothed. "You're just a bit confused right now. But I am going to take you back to your house, and we can work through this problem with your mom. Everything will be okay."

Mitchie meekly smiled through her tear soaked face. "I only believe it when you say that. Can we just forget about this night, though? I can't believe I wanted to lose my virginity this young. Shane, any other guy would have just taken advantage of me. I am so luck to have you; I don't know what I would do without you. I love you so much."

Shane kissed the top of her head. "I love you, too, Mitch. I always will."

"Always is an awfully long time," Mitchie commented, finally calming down a little. "Especially when sometimes it just seems like the world doesn't want you to be happy."

"No, the world just wants to see you work at it a bit. Things can't be too easy, now can they?"

"I suppose not. But I don't know that I can return home and see my mom after everything," Mitchie cried.

"You can, Mitchie. And I will be right next to you. We can face your mother together. But she is probably very worried about you, so you need to go home now," Shane comforted, crossing to the phone. He asked for a taxi cab and hung up.

"Let's go," Shane said, grabbing his coat.

Mitchie wiped away the rest of her tears and slightly smiled. "You're incredible."

Shane gave her a comforting smile in return. "I try. Now come on."

* * *

It was almost midnight when Mitchie and Shane got back to her house. Shane paid the taxi cab driver as Mitchie stepped out of the car. The rain was starting to calm down, and the sky slowly started to clear, revealing the bright white moon.

Shane took Mitchie's hand and walked to the front door, ringing the doorbell.

Mitchie's mom answered and gasped as she saw her daughter standing there. Mitchie noticed that she had been crying.

Connie had a phone to her ear and said to it with a shaky voice: "No, officer, my daughter just came in. Yes. I'm so sorry. Yes. Thank you. Good bye." Connie slammed the phone shut as Mitchie and Shane walked in the door.

"Young lady, do you have any idea how much you worried me?" Connie half-screamed. "Go to your room. Now. I will deal with you soon. I need to talk to Shane."

Mitchie looked at Shane pleadingly, who nodded at her to leave. She exhaled a deep breath and walked into her room.

"Sit down," Connie commanded coldly.

Shane sat at the kitchen table, as Connie took a seat across from him. He finally made up his mind about what to do, saying, "Look, Mrs. Torres, please don't be mad at Mitchie."

"She ran away from home. I was on the phone with the police for god's sake. She has been disobeyed me and made me worry about her all evening. I have every right to be angry at her, and I goddamn will be," Connie snapped.

"It wasn't Mitchie's fault," Shane lied. "It was mine. I asked her to come and meet me, and she said she couldn't. I made her. Be angry with me, not her. It's my fault that you were so worried. I'm sorry."

"You're sorry?" Connie screamed. "I have half of the city's police out looking for Mitchie because of you and you're sorry is the best you can do?!"

"I know you must have been worried. It must have been the scariest feeling in the world realizing that your daughter was gone."

"Shane, I don't want you near my daughter ever again. You stay away from her for good," Connie demanded.

Those last words made Shane's heart ache. Suddenly, Mitchie appeared behind her mom. "He's lying," Mitchie stated firmly.

Connie whipped around to see face her daughter. "I thought I told you to wait in your ro—"

"He's lying," Mitchie repeated. "I don't know why. But I snuck out of the house because I was upset with you and I wanted to see him. I didn't even want to come back, but Shane made me."

"Mitchie…" Shane began.

"Why would you lie about that?" Connie asked Shane.

Shane fiddled with his thumbs, trying to ignore the deathly glare from Mitchie's mother. "What answer would make you the least angry with me?"

Connie took a deep breath and attempted to answer in a normal tone: "The honest one."

"Because I love your daughter. I love her more than anything on this earth, and she just made one bad judgment tonight. And I know how close you two normally are, so I didn't want there to be an even bigger rift between to two of you," Shane admitted.

Mitchie joined Connie and Shane at the table. "Mom, I really am sorry. I know I screwed up big time and I will make it up to you. I've been such a horrible daughter lately."

Connie took her daughter's hand. "I love you, honey. You are the best daughter a mother could ask for, and don't forget it. But don't you _ever_ scare me like that again."

Mitchie nodded, smiling at her mother. Okay, this was progress. "Hey, mom?" Mitchie asked. "Would it be too late to fully introduce you to Shane?"

Connie laughed slightly. "Better late than never?"

"Mom, this is Shane Gray," Mitchie introduced.

Shane smiled and took Connie's hand. "Nice to meet you, Mrs. Torres."

"Look, we are going to have to set some ground rules," Connie said. "Number one: please don't say that you love each other around me. I'm just getting used to the whole first boyfriend thing, and I think that's all I can handle for now."

Shane blushed and nodded.

"Number two: Shane, Mitchie must be home by ten any night you take her out, and I must always know where she is."

Mitchie sadly nodded as Shane said, "Fair enough."

"Finally, know that you are welcome at this house anytime. I do trust you, Shane, and I'm glad that Mitchie ended up with you, especially after you made sure she came home safe tonight. If you two ever do want to be here, I will leave you alone. But just know that you're welcome here."

Shane's face lit up. "Thank you, so much. I will go back to my hotel now, but thank you so much."

"I'll walk him out," Mitchie proposed. The two walked at the front door, as Connie watched them from the window.

Outside, Mitchie gave Shane a final hug, and whispered: "You really are amazing. You're way too good for me."

Shane shrugged. "Yeah, I know."

Mitchie playfully slugged him.

"Just kidding," Shane laughed. "But I have a rule for you, too, okay? You seem to make a lot of rash decisions where you're upset. Committing suicide… wanting to lose your virginity…"

Mitchie looked away. It was hard for her to hear, even if she knew it was true.

"I just want you to talk to me. I've always been here, and I always will be here. So just talk to me, okay? Before you do anything stupid. Then I wouldn't have to worry about you so much. And, besides, in good relationships you have to talk about everything bugging you. So I'm just asking you to let me in," Shane finished.

Mitchie nodded and kissed him passionately. "As always, you're right. But I will. From now on, no rash decisions."

"Good. Now I am going to go before your mom comes out here and beats me for keeping you out for so long." Shane gave her a final kiss and walked away. As he did, Mitchie stared after him, and then turned around to go back into her house. She then looked up at the sky. It was so large and beautiful. The stars almost glittered. For that moment, it was as if Mitchie was fully at peace with herself and the world. Smiling, she walked back into her house and closed the door.

* * *

**Thanks again for reading and reviewing, you guys! You're all awe… great! (Less cheerleader-ish, lol.) So my original plan for this story was that it was going to be thirteen chapters, all of which I had planned out already. Well, as you can tell, this is the thirteenth chapter. We're all done.**

**Just kidding! I made a whole bunch of chapters too long, so I split them up. But my outline will run out in about three or four more chapters. So at this point, I will decide whether or not to continue. **

**Thanks again. Now go press the pretty little button that says "review". :D Thanks very much!**


	14. Chapter 14

**I cannot begin to explain to you guys the amount of guilt I have been plagued with during the last couple of weeks! Seriously, I felt so bad. I am **_**so**_** sorry for taking this long to update. I have been so incredibly busy with not very fun things, but I have kept you awesome people in my mind as I was doing them. But I really am so sorry for making you wait for so long. Know that I read every single one of your reviews and appreciate them ALL. Thanks so much!!**

* * *

"So have you convinced your mom to let you go on the next tour yet?" Caitlyn asked over the phone.

"For some reason, she's been like _desperately_trying to keep me in the house all the time. It's weird. So I haven't exactly told her yet that I might be gone for another three months," Mitchie moaned.

"I think you just need to get it over with," Caitlyn suggested. "Good luck."

Mitchie sighed. "Thanks. Bye." She hung up the phone, as her stomach began to feel uneasy. Okay, she could do this.

It was a week after Mitchiehad returned home, and for some reason her mom was extremely protective of her. Mitchie opened her door and entered the kitchen, where her mother was sitting at the table.

"Hi, honey," Connie greeted, setting down her cup of coffee.

"Hey," Mitchie said, sitting down. "So, um, where did you say dad was?"

Connie's face turned red. "Um, w-work. Remember?"

"Yeah, but doesn't he always call?" Mitchie asked.

"I-I guess he, er, is j-just busy," Connie stammered.

Mitchie raised an eyebrow. "Okay. Well, when is he coming back?"

"I don't know!" her mother snapped.

"Okay, done with that subject," Mitchie muttered. She decided to then be brave and move on to the topic which she dreaded asking her mother about. "So, mom?"

"Yes?"

"Well, er, you remember the tour I just went on?"

Connie wrinkled her forehead. "Yes."

Mitchie took a deep breath. "We are in the midst of planning another one. It's okay if I go, right?"

Mitchie studied her mother's face. It usually was not hard to figure out how she was feeling, especially now. Tears came to Connie's eyes, and soon her cheeks were soaked.

"Whyyy?" Connie sobbed.

Mitchie moaned. Why was her mother such a drama queen? Wasn't she supposed to be the adult in this house? Mitchie did not have time for this, especially because Shane would be at her house any minute to pick her up.

"Okay, I guess I'll let you think about it. I've got to go for now though, so just let me know." Mitchie grabbed her jacket and ran out the door. She immediately felt guilt take over her stomach when she realized that she had just left her sobbing mother inside the house.

Mitchie considered going back inside when Shane pulled up.

_Go to sobbing mother or go make out with hot boyfriend? _Mitchie thought. Tough choice. Shane got out of the car and greeted her with a kiss.

"Hey, babe. So, I have a surprise for you," Shane said.

Mitchie smiled. She liked Shane's surprises. "Oh, really, and what might that be?"

Shane opened the door of the backseat, and Brian stepped out. Mitchie's smile was quickly replaced with a frown.

Shane excitedly said: "Brian surprised me this morning by coming to my hotel. Now the three of us can hang. Reunited trio, eh?"

Mitchie tried to wipe the shocked and slightly disgusted look off of her face. The only word she could force out was: "Great."

Mitchie and Brian both got in the backseat of the car, while Shane entered the front. "So, Brian, Mitchie and I were going to go see _Fallen for You_. It just came out in theaters yesterday."

"Chick flick. Wonder whose idea that was," Brian muttered, glaring at Mitchie. How could Shane not hear this?

When they finally got to the theater, Mitchie went to the bathroom as Brian and Shane found seats.

"Dude, this is lame," Brian complained, sitting down near the back of the theater.

"Hey, sorry. I've got a gal now. Serious relationships and all that shit." Something about being around Brian made Shane act a certain way, even if was not necessarily good. It was as if Shane had to be just as much of a jerk as Brian was to gain Brian's respect. Most people wouldn't care, but Shane wanted Brian's friendship. Brian was one of the few people in his life who wouldn't kiss his ass. Brian was a jerk to Shane, and told him what an idiot he was, and always made Shane pay for everything. Shane was always able to feel like a simple, normal teenager around Brian.

Brian snickered at Shane's response. "I can't believe you're still with _her_."

"I love her," Shane let out, a little quietly. However, Brian heard.

"Oh, man. Shane Gray is whipped," Brian teased.

Shane's face turned bright red. "Am not."

"Then why are we sitting in a movie called _Fallen for You_? Do you see how screwed up this is? You tell her what movie you want to see, with action or sex or some shit like that, not some cheesy romance crap," Brian scolded. "She has got you under her which spell, and is gonna keep making you do anything she wants."

"It's worth it," Shane attempted to defend himself.

"Hah. It's only worth it if you're getting some." Brian gave Shane the you-know-I'm-right look, so Shane shrunk into his chair.

Luckily, Mitchie returned at that moment. She took a seat next to Shane, who was now in the middle of Mitchie and Brian. Being with Brian made everything awkward for Mitchie. Shane would normally put his arm around Mitchie, and maybe kiss her a little during movies. Now, it was as if they were all just friends hanging out. He seemed like he was too embarrassed to do it when Brian was watching. Mitchie silently added that to the list of reasons she disliked Brian.

* * *

When the movie had finished, Mitchie and Brian stood outside the theater, waiting for Shane to bring around the car.

Mitchie, though she knew it would be fruitless, attempted to make conversation: "So… good movie, huh?"

Brian snorted.

"You didn't like it?" Mitchie asked.

"Oh my god. Please just stop talking. Even the sound of your voice is annoyingly naive," Brian moaned.

Mitchie wasn't even shocked anymore. She was waiting for Brian to be an ass, so she knew to come prepared for the worst.

Brian continued: "But, hey, I guess that's what Shane wants. You're different from all the other whores he has been with."

Mitchie wrinkled her forehead. She couldn't help but ask, "'Been with'?"

"Christ," Brian shot at her. "I know you're miss doe-eyed innocent puppy, but you must at least know what sex is."

Mitchie was surprised at two things. One, she was surprised that Brian could say something more cruel than he had ever said to her. Two, she was shocked at _what _he was saying.

"Shane… no. He wouldn't," Mitchie said shakily.

Brian laughed. "I don't know why Shane even puts up with you. You're either extremely naïve, or you're playing hard to get. And I don't think you're smart enough to play hard to get. So God knows how long it will be before Shane either wants to sleep with you. And when you refuse… you can kiss your so-called pure and respectable boyfriend goodbye."

"Just stop," Mitchie whispered meekly.

"You know it's true. He has been with so many girls. He can screw any girl he wants. Except you. How long do you think that will last?" Brian taunted.

Mitchie was silent.

Brian continued: "Or maybe he will just cheat on you. Yeah, that will probably happen. You're just a fucking bitch who won't give her boyfriend the one thing he wants, even though he gives you everything."

In a second, Brian was on the floor. Mitchie stood above him, with a clenched fist. Oh god. She had just punched Shane's best friend in the face so hard that he fell over. That would leave a mark.

_Shit_, Mitchie thought. She saw Shane's car in the distance coming toward them. All she could think to do was run, and before she knew it, she had taken off. She did not even look back as she ran through the shopping mall. People stared as Mitchie continued to increase her pace, until she was at the other side of the mall. Spotting a payphone, Mitchie decided to call in some help.

Mitchie put in two quarters and dialed a number.

"Hello? Caitlyn?" Mitchie asked. She and Caitlyn had been so relived when they figured out that they lived only twenty minutes away from each other.

A man's voice responded. "Um, hi?"

"Hello?" Mitchie repeated. "Who is this?" She heard some mumbling on the phone.

Suddenly, Caitlyn responded. "Hey, Mitchie. Sorry about that. What's up?"

"Can you come pick me up?" Mitchie asked.

"Yeah, sure. Do you mind if Nate comes? He's here too."

Mitchie was surprised. "Oh really?" She teased. "Well, okay. Sounds good. I'm at the mall."

When Caitlyn arrived not too long after, Mitchie hopped in the front seat. She looked to see Nate in the backseat.

"So… uh… what were you too doing?" Mitchie asked, narrowing her eyes.

"We were just going over the stage setup for the next tour," Nate responded.

Mitchie raised her eyebrow.

"We weren't on a date, idiot," Caitlyn laughed. "Speaking of dates, weren't you on one with Shane? What happened?"

Mitchie knew this was coming. "Ugh, it was bad. Brian came into town to visit Shane, so Shane took him on the date. And of course he was a total ass. So I just couldn't take it anymore…" her voice trailed off.

"Uh oh. Mitchie, what did you do?" Caitlyn asked.

"I… er… sort of punched him in the face while Shane was going to get the car. When I realized I had knocked him down, I just ran," she explained.

"Yeah, nice going Mitchie!" Nate cheered. "High-five!"

Nate held up his hand for a high-five, but Mitchie shook her head sadly.

"What?" Nate asked. "Brian's an idiot. I don't know why Shane is even friends with him."

"Yeah… well," Mitchie sighed. "Shane is going to be mad."

"So what? You're just going to avoid him forever?" Caitlyn asked.

Mitchie crossed her arms and said childishly: "Maybe."

When they arrived at Mitchie's house, she gave Caitlyn a hug and got out. "Thanks. You're awesome."

"No problem," Caitlyn replied. "Call me if you just want to talk or something, okay?"

"Yeah, I will. Thanks." Mitchie grabbed her purse and shut the door behind her. When she unlocked her door and walked in, Mitchie realized the house was empty. Mitchie called out for her mother, though there was no reply.

Mitchie walked slowly into her mother's bedroom. Connie was lying on the bed. Mitchie thought she was asleep at first, but she soon realized that Connie was crying softly.

Mitchie walked over to Connie, and rubbed her back. "Mom, what's wrong?"

Mitchie could barely understand her mother through her sobs: "Your… fa… father…"

"What is it? You know you can tell me anything, mom," Mitchie pressed.

Connie tried to calm her breathing. "Your father and I... we're getting divorced. He's moving out."

Mitchie's heart sank. "Wha… what? Why?"

Connie let out through sobs: "He cheated on me."

* * *

**To be continued…**

**Haha, no worries, I will continue it soon. It was another one of those it couldn't fit into one chapter things. But the next chapter is gonna be intense.**

**Also, there's this author: Jess Babe. She is a really good author and I love her because she updates really quickly. But sadly, and I'm not sure why, she barely has any reviewers. So if you guys are looking for some stories to check out, you should go look at hers. She doesn't do Smitchie pairings, but if you like other pairings, go read some of her stories.**

**Ooh, last thing. Time is running out to vote for the Camp Rock Fanfiction awards. So if you want to be supportive, go look at ScarlettBlush's profile. And her stories, too. They are freaking amazing.**

**Okay, I'm all done now. Thanks SO much for reading, and please please review!**


	15. Chapter 15

**Hey guys! No long intro this time, I promise. I just wanted to thank all of you. You have been amazing with your reviews! Thanks a ton!**

* * *

Mitchie got up slowly, trying to catch her breath. She felt as if all the wind had rushed out of her body, and she could not take any in. The universe was taking everything from her, and not even allowing her air.

"Mitchie…" Connie started.

Mitchie snapped back into reality as her mother spoke. "I'll be back." Just as quickly as she came, Mitchie ran out the door of her house. She picked up her phone and started to dial Shane's number. She stopped abruptly, realizing that she could not call him. He might still be with Brian, or might be angry with her. Mitchie attempted to think of someone to call. Nate and Caitlyn were probably still together, so Mitchie didn't want to interrupt them. Jason, maybe?

Mitchie dialed his number. After ringing for a long period of time, Jason finally picked up.

"Hi, Jason?" Mitchie asked desperately.

Jason sounded distracted as he answered: "Hey, what's up?"

"Jason, I—" Mitchie stopped when she heard a girl giggling in the background. Listening closer, she heard strange music playing in the background. Not pop music, or techno, or country, or rock. It was 'mushy' music. Jason was with a girl. Crap. "I—er—I will talk to you later. Never mind. Bye."

Was _everyone_with someone right now? Tears started to swell in Mitchie's eyes. Mitchie just decided to walk it off and maybe clear her head. As she walked by the houses, she started to look in the windows from the street. In one house, she could hear a husband and wife screaming at each other. In another, Mitchie saw a lonely woman reading her book by the fire. Sadly, this was only depressing Mitchie even more.

Why didn't she ever see older couples who were happy? It seemed like plenty of horny teenagers were constantly all over each other. But the more she thought about it, the more Mitchie realized that adults never had that same kind of passion. Was it because passion dwindled away, or because the passion was never true love in the first place?

Mitchie's thoughts were interrupted by a voice: "Mitchie?"

She turned to see a handsome teenager putting a bag of trash in his street bin.

"Oh my god, Mitchie. It is you!" Michael threw his arms around Mitchie and held her close.

"Michael…" was the only word Mitchie could let escape her lips.

"Mitchie, I haven't seen you in so long. It's been too long, in my opinion," Michael soothed, breaking away.

Part of Mitchie wanted to slap him, but the more dominant part of her still was weak in the knees. Why was he being so nice to her?

"So, I saw you on tour! Or, at least, I heard about it. The whole school has been talking about it, actually. Are you going to come back for the next semester? That would be so cool. We could hang out all the time, just like we used to," Michael exclaimed.

All the time? Hang out? With Michael? Mitchie tried to speak again, but could not.

"Hey, Mitchie, do you want to sit for a second?" Michael motioned to the bench on his porch.

When Mitchie did not answer, Michael grabbed her arm and dragged her to the bench. He sat down first, while Mitchie stood.

"You are a silly girl," Michael laughed. He pulled Mitchie on top of his lap.

Mitchie was still attempting to figure things out, when Michael began to kiss her.

_Woah, woah, woah. Hold it, you ass hole. What just happened? We are not doing this now. I have a boyfriend—sort of—and you are a jerk. Why are you so nice to me now, huh? What makes you—oooh-kay. Your hands do not belong there. _Mitchie thought all this, but of course, could not manage say anything. Instead she pulled herself off of Michael.

Gaining a tiny bit of strength, she meekly said: "No. No, no, no. I haven't forgotten what—"

Michael moaned. "Aw, babe. You aren't still mad about that, are you? We have something going for us. We'd be great together. I miss you."

Mitchie knew she could not handle this right now. She was too vulnerable and he knew it. Still, he was using it cruelly to his advantage. What else was new?

"Stay away from me, Michael. Don't call me, touch me, or anything. Ever," Mitchie yelled, and ran. Mitchie ran and ran, until she was finally outside of Shane's hotel, yet again. The doorman waved to her and opened the glass doors as Mitchie ran into the lobby. He had come to accept the fact that she would only go to the hotel under strange circumstances, and would always been running.

_Please, Shane. Please, please be here, _Mitchie thought.

Mitchie ran down the hall, and pounded her fists on Shane's door.

Nate answered the door and saw a Mitchie covered in sweat and tears.

"Mitchie, what's wrong?" Nate asked, opened the door for her to come in.

"Is Shane here?" Mitchie asked, entering the room and desperately searching for Shane.

"No, he hasn't come back yet. What's wrong?" Nate pushed.

Mitchie couldn't help sobbing. She collapsed on the floor, and curled into a ball. Nate had never really been in this predicament before, so all he could think to do was rub her back to calm her down.

Her head still hidden between her legs, Mitchie whispered: "My dad left us."

Nate's haw dropped. "No… Mitchie, I—"

"There's more. He cheated on her," Mitchie interrupted.

Nate took Mitchie in a hug.

"There's more. I kind of saw this guy, Michael, again. This guy I haven't seen in a while. And I'm glad I haven't seen him in a while, after what he did to me," Mitchie shot angrily.

Mitchie was upset, so Nate decided not to ask about her mysterious statement.

Mitchie continued: "And… he acted so different than last time. He was nice. And he looked great. And… he pulled me onto a bench with him. And… he kissed me. Hard. And let his hands… explore me."

Nate's jaw dropped. "Mitchie… you didn't let him... do other things—"

"No!" Mitchie defended when she realized what he was saying. "I pulled away. But he has this power over me. I hate it. And I hate him."

"Mitchie, you need to talk to Shane. And soon. About everything that has been going on," Nate suggested.

Mitchie paused. She then laughed, and lifted her head, leaving Nate puzzled. "You're a great friend, Nate. Thank you."

Nate was relieved. "Anytime. But Mitchie?"

"Yes, Nate?"

Nate exhaled. "I don't know that you should tell Shane about Michael."

Mitchie was puzzled. "Er, why not?"

Nate shook his head and explained, "Shane gets jealous really easily. You don't realize it, but guys stare at you. A lot. And it's always Jason and I who are calming him not, telling him not to go rip those guys' heads off. And those are guys who stare at you. I don't even want to think about what he would do to a guy who felt you up."

Before Mitchie could respond, they heard someone outside the door.

"Shane…" Nate whispered. Nate shot up and ran to the closet, getting inside.

"Nate, what are you doing?" Mitchie frantically asked.

Nate crawled into a suitcase. Damn, that boy was small. "I told you Shane will get jealous at anything. I was never here. Otherwise, he will read something into it. Trust me. Just talk to him. Make up something for why you were here. Now, shh!"

The door opened, and Shane walked in, rubbing his eyes. Turning on the light switch, Shane jumped in shock and dropped the jacket and keys he was holding.

Mitchie ran over to help him pick them up. "Sorry," she muttered, avoiding his eye contact.

Shane smiled. "So, uh, what are you doing in my room? Not that it's a bad thing." He winked at her.

"We just need to talk," Mitchie stated firmly.

Shane nodded and sat down on the bed. Mitchie shook her head.

"No bed. Bed makes me have _those_feelings, and right now, I need to be strong," Mitchie said.

Shane's laughed. She sounded so serious. "What's going on? Does this have something to do with the people you left the mall with?"

"What?" Mitchie asked.

"Yeah," Shane started. "Brian said you left with some friends or something. He was really confusing, actually."

Mitchie laughed. "Is that what he told you? And how do you think he got his black eye?"

Shane hadn't considered this. "Well, he told me that he fell over, and his head hit the sidewalk…"

"He could not have gotten a black eye because of a fall." Mitchie's voice started to rise. Why was Shane being such an idiot?

Shane was starting to get worried. "Mitchie, can you explain this to me, please?"

Mitchie thought Shane might later regret asking for an explanation. But oh well. He asked for one, which made Mitchie finally snap. "He is a total ass wipe, Shane. Brian hates me, which is appropriate because I'm not too fond of him. And then he called me something very mean, so I punched him."

Shane didn't know whether to laugh or be angry. He let out an angry-laugh combination, which only confused Mitchie more. "Did you use those self-defense moves I showed you a while back?" Shane asked, trying to control his laughter.

Mitchie walked over to him and playfully slugged him. "Why are you laughing?"

Shane's laughing increased even more. "I can so imagine you just punching him." He rolled onto his back from laughter.

"You seriously aren't mad?" Mitchie asked, confused.

"Of course not!" Shane exclaimed.

"He really did deserve it, Shane. He was such a jerk," Mitchie laughed, joining Shane. However, Shane stopped.

"I'm sure he didn't mean to be, babe," Shane shrugged.

"Uh, yeah he did. I don't want to see him ever again," Mitchie said flatly.

Shane rolled his eyes. "Don't you think you're being a bit ridiculous?"

"No! You should have heard what he said. Don't you respect me enough to at least believe me?"

Shane put his arms around Mitchie, kissing her on the cheek. "You know I do. But he's my best friend. I'm going to make sure he never sees you again, okay? But I will still be his best friend. We agreed to never let a girl come between our friendship."

Mitchie snorted, and walked to the other side of the room.

Shane shook his head. "Look, I am just trying to be honest. In a good relationship, you have to be honest with each other, even if the other person doesn't like what you have to tell them. You taught me that. And I want to be honest with you. Because I do respect you."

At that, Shane walked over to Mitchie, taking her in his arms. Guilt crept over Mitchie as Shane's words sunk in.

At that moment, Mitchie saw Nate poke his head out of the closet, while Shane's back was turned. Ooops, she had kind of forgotten about Nate.

Mitchie tried to think up a plan. "Oh, um, Shane? I kind of came over to see if I could borrow a… _suitcase_."

Shane pulled away from Mitchie. "What?"

"Yeah, um, I need to see... how durable your suitcase is. I'm getting a new one," Mitchie lied.

"Yeah, okay. There's one in the closet. I'll get it," Shane laughed.

"NO!" Mitchie screamed. Shane turned back to face her again, surprised. "I mean, no. Let me. I have to get a feel for it."

"Yeah, er, okay. You can wheel it around the room or something," Shane suggested.

Mitchie smiled. "Okay. Sounds great." Mitchie grabbed the suitcase and wheeled it out the door.

"Um, Mitchie, I didn't mean go take it outside!" Shane called. However, she was already gone. He smiled to himself. Mitchie was crazy, but he loved that about her.

Once outside, Nate climbed out of the suitcase, slowly. He frowned at Mitchie. "Forget about me?"

Mitchie stared at her feet and put her arms behind her back. "Of course not…"

"Right," Nate glared jokingly, trying not to smile.

"Hey, Nate?" Mitchie asked. "I don't think I can do this. I feel so guilty right now. I need to tell Shane the truth. I mean, I cheated on him. That's what it is, isn't it? Kissing another guy?"

"You what?!" Shane screamed.

Mitchie turned around to see Shane standing right behind her.

"Shane… I—"

"Mitchie, I thought you were done lying. But you have been lying to me all night, haven't you?" Shane shot fiercely.

"Hey, man, hear her out," Nate piped in.

"Shut up, Nate," Shane yelled. "Mitchie, how could you have cheated on me?"

"I… I…" Mitchie's eyes started to swell with tears.

"This jerk took advantage of Mitchie, Shane. Mitchie couldn't help it. _She _was the one who broke it up. But it wasn't her fault. She was upset and he took advantage of her," Nate explained.

"Oh, yeah, what was she so upset about? Why don't you tell me what it was, Nate? Since obviously my own girlfriend can't tell me!" Shane shot.

"Nate, go in your room. Now," Mitchie commanded.

Nate, though reluctant at first, entered his room and closed his door.

"I think things will work better this way, anyway," Mitchie offered, coming closer to Shane.

"What way is that?" Shane questioned, folding his arms over his chest.

"You breaking up with me over this. Because you're much braver than I am. You can handle me cheating on you. But if you were the one who cheated on me, it would have killed me."

Shane was offended. "Oh, I see. So now I'm cheating on you?"

Mitchie turned her head away. "No, no. But sooner or later, you would have gotten sick of me. Brian was right."

"Oh, here we go. Bring Brian into this. Mitchie, just stop making Brian the villain all the time. Just stop," Shane snapped.

"Obviously this isn't going to work," Mitchie said after a long pause.

Shane's nostrils flared. "Where is all this shit coming from? I loved you Mitchie. I thought you loved me, too."

"I don't know what I feel anymore. But I do know that it is better to end it now when neither of us will get hurt, rather than later. Later would be too late. We would both be crushed," Mitchie said.

"When neither of us has gotten hurt?" Shane practically yelled. "Jesus, Mitchie! What do you think you're doing to me right now? I love you Mitchie. And you're treating me like crap. You cheat on me, and then say I will cheat on you, and then say you want to break up?"

Mitchie continued to avoid Shane's eye contact. "I'm sorry. I just have a lot going on right now."

"Well, why don't you talk to me about it, huh? I love you, Mitchie. How many times do I need to say it?" Shane asked desperately.

"Just because you say it doesn't mean it's true. Maybe there is no such thing as true love. I either continue going out with you until we break up or you stay with me and cheat on me because you 'love' me enough not to hurt my feelings, right?" Mitchie asked meekly.

"Where is all of this coming from?" Shane pressed. After Mitchie did not answer, Shane continued to scold her: "Maybe we should break-up. But not because you cheated on me or because you think I am going to cheat on you. I want to make it clear that we are breaking up because _you_ are a coward. I don't know if you are just making a bunch of excuses or if you really don't want to be with me. But you are not the girl I feel in love with. You are hiding from what you really feel. I think it scares you. It never used to, but it does now. You're afraid of everything that would happen. You just can't let yourself be happy? You just have to screw it up. You've changed. For the worse."

Mitchie turned her head away to hide the tears stinging her eyes, and Shane walked back into his room and slammed the door. Mitchie hurt all over. It hurt that Shane was so angry with her. It hurt that she cheated on him with someone who was not worth it. It hurt that she just lost the love of her life. But mostly, it just hurt that everything Shane said was right.

* * *

**Oh, snaps. What happened between Mitchie and Michael? Don't you worry, our favorite little pest Michael will not be going away. And that whole storyline will be explained in time, dear friends.**

**Now, about this chapter, it was actually was really hard in terms of Nate. I seriously could not decide whether or not to let him be the guy Mitchie would be comforted by. It is done in like every story; the whole Mitchie, Shane, and Nate love triangle. But I just want to make it clear—Nate and Mitchie will not and never will be romantically involved. They won't ever be interested in a romantic relationship. I just needed a male character who could comfort Mitchie and I thought it would be dumb just to bring some random person inm just for the sake of comfort. It was just be awkward, so I chose Nate. So don't lose faith or throw things. There will be no love triangle... between them at least. Nate is just going to be one of her guy besties. Like, they will tell each other about their romantic lives but never ever want one for the two of them? Got it? Haha.**

**Finally, my amazing reviewers, please please please with a plump cherry on top review? Let's shoot for 150 reviews, huh? That's about 15 reviews for this chapter. (Get it, fifteen reviews for the 15th chapter? Amazing, huh?) We can sooo do it, right? Right? (Silence) Haha, thanks a million times!**


	16. Chapter 16

Shane sat a park bench with closed eyes, listening to the wind blow. The leaves on trees rustled, and the sound of children playing was heard down the grassy hill. He suddenly felt a tap on his shoulder and opened his eyes.

The beautiful brunette took a seat next to him, handing him a cup of coffee.

"Hey babe," she greeted. "Miss me?"

Shane set down the coffee and answered, "You know it." He then leaned in to kiss her, resting one hand on her cheek and the other on her neck. Shane always felt a sense of ease around her; he could just be himself.

She broke from the kiss for a second, to grab some coffee. "It's too early for this," she said, laughing and rubbing her eyes.

"It's never too early," Shane protested, pulling her in again. Her sweet scents put him back in a trance. He never wanted to break from the kiss, or from her. Shane would have loved nothing more than to stay like that forever.

However, she broke away from their kiss again, and stood up. "I thought we were going to walk around the park. Come on now, there will be time for _that_ later."

Shane moaned and stood up, wrapping his arm around her. He then kissed her cheek, and the two began to walk down the path to the small lake.

Shane sat down first on the wooden bench, and then pulled the beautiful young woman onto his lap. She pressed her forehead to his and whispered, "I love you, Shane."

Shane looked into the innocent brown of her eyes, and took her hand. "I love you too, Mitchie."

Suddenly, the murderous sound of alarm clock "beeps" filled the air. Shane moaned and punched his alarm clock, causing it to fall on the floor. He felt around for Mitchie. Realizing it was all a dream, Shane pulled the covers off and decided to call Mitchie instead. He could just relive that dream. He grabbed his phone and began to dial her number when he suddenly remembered: they had been broken up for over a week now. Shane couldn't call her or talk to her or anything.

Every feeling that Shane had just felt during his dream had been ripped away from him. He felt as if he had broken up with Mitchie all over again.

Shane was not one to cry. Ever. But for the first time, he felt capable of tears. He crawled back into his bead and pulled the covers over his head.

* * *

Mitchie desperately needed to talk to Caitlyn. Maybe Caitlyn's phone was dead or lost, because Mitchie realized that she must have left at least twenty messages on her phone.

Mitchie walked up the steps to Caitlyn's house and knocked. Twenty knocks later, Mitchie decided just to go in to leave a note for Caitlyn, so at least Caitlyn would know that Mitchie was trying to get a hold of her. Caitlyn had given her a key for emergencies. This sure felt like an emergency to Mitchie.

After unlocking the door, Mitchie entered. She set her purse on the counter and found a pen and paper.

**Dear Caitlyn,**

**My life is pretty much falling apart. **

**I desperately need to talk to you. **

**Please please please call me, babe.**

**XOXO, Mitchie.**

Mitchie folded the note and made her way to Caitlyn's room. Mitchie opened the door and turned on the light.

She abruptly screamed and dropped the note as she saw that she was not the only one in the room. Caitlyn was straddling someone who had one hand under Caitlyn's shirt and the other on her butt. He stopped moaning and tried to see what was going on, but Caitlyn's hair covered his face.

"Mitchie!" Caitlyn called out, but it was too late. Mitchie had already left. Caitlyn got off her the guy and buttoned up her shirt. By the time she ran out into her living room, Mitchie had already left the house.

Caitlyn cursed under her breath and kicked the nearby trashcan over. This was not going to end well. Caitlyn could just tell.

* * *

Mitchie paced the floor of her room, contemplating. Is that where Caitlyn had been? With her new… boyfriend? Boy toy? Friend with benefits? Why didn't Caitlyn tell Mitchie about him?

After Mitchie recognized the brown curly hair of the guy feeling up Caitlyn, she had to run. Why had neither of them told anyone about their relationship? Or maybe they just decided not to tell Mitchie?

Mitchie's thoughts were interrupted by a knock at the door. She opened the door to see Caitlyn standing there warming her hands up with her breath.

"Hi, Mitchie." Caitlyn gave an apologetic look to Mitchie, who was glaring at her.

"Hi," Mitchie answered gruffly. "Nice to see you. Especially with your clothes on."

Caitlyn let the comment slide, and instead suggested: "Should we sit?"

Mitchie shrugged. "Fine."

Caitlyn sat down and began to twiddle her thumbs out of nervousness. "Look, Mitchie, I get that you're mad. Really, I do."

"I don't care that you two are dating. I'm just mad that you felt you had to hide it from me," Mitchie explained.

Caitlyn said nothing, and just nodded.

"How long has this been going on?" Mitchie asked.

"I don't know if we ever officially became 'boyfriend and girlfriend'. We just sort of started liking each other. And then every time we saw each other, we just acted like we were dating. It was weird, but I guess it was like we were never truly official, but not allowed to date other people. So like an unspoken relationship? It's hard to put in words."

Mitchie swallowed. "Why? Why didn't you tell me? Why did you ignore me?"

"I… I don't know," Caitlyn lied.

Mitchie slammed her fist on the table and got up. "I don't have time for this. You can at least have the decency to tell me the truth." She turned to walk away.

Caitlyn stopped her. "Maybe I didn't want to hurt you any further. I heard all your messages over the last seven days..."

Mitchie turned back, and shot fiercely: "What do you mean? You're being ridiculous."

"No, Mitchie, I'm not. It would have been like 'Oh, I'm sorry about your break-up. I'm sorry you're devastated and that Shane is a total dick. On that note, may I add that I am dating the most amazing guy in the world? I am happier that I've been in such a long time, and I have a boyfriend who actually loves me'. Is that what I should have done?"

"Shane isn't the only one like that." Mitchie protested angrily.

Caitlyn snorted.

Mitchie had officially snapped. "All Connect Three members are the same, Caitlyn. Sorry to break it to you. He may seem nice, but give it time. He will change. He'll show you his true side. And when he does, don't say I didn't warn you."

"No, they aren't all like that. You just managed to choose the ass hole of the group. Have fun with that," Caitlyn retorted.

"Get out of my house," Mitchie snapped, running into her room and slamming the door. Once she heard the front door close, Mitchie buried her head in her pillow and let the tears pour out.

* * *

**Wow, I'm sorry that was so short. And sorry for taking so long to update guys! Seriously, I really am. I know that "sorry" is now becoming meaningless because I use it so much, but I really do mean it. I promise not to take this long to update again!**

**Anyway, I'm hoping you liked the update. Uh oh, who is Caitlyn dating? Nate or Jason? (In case you didn't notice, I didn't tell you who, haha.)**

**And thank you EVERYONE for the wonderful reviews. They make me so happy! :) I love you guys to death!**


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